Education
ULA Partners with AFA and Space Foundation for StellarXplorers
Written by: developer
United Launch Alliance (ULA) has joined forces with the Space Foundation and other, key sponsors to support the Air Force Association’s (AFA) StellarXplorers program. Each year, schools from across the U.S., and from overseas Department of Defense locations, participate in the space design competition. The teams compete in a series of challenges using Systems Tool Kit, modeling software created by Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI).
In April 2016, the top 10 teams competed in the National Finals in the AGI Space Missions Simulation Lab at the Space Foundation Discovery Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The competition is scheduled so that the finals coincide with the Space Foundation’s Space Symposium, giving students competing in the event the opportunity to tour the Symposium’s exhibit center during their time in Colorado Springs.
The event has grown in popularity over the past two years. In 2016, 27 teams registered for the StellarXplorers program, and that number has grown to 131 for the 2017 competition. For 2017, ULA has joined the program’s sponsors to once again bring the top 10 teams to compete in the National Finals at the Space Foundation Discovery Center, April 5-9.
StellarXplorers seeks to inspire and attract high school students to pursue studies and careers in STEM fields through a challenging, space system design competition involving all aspects of system development and operation with a spacecraft/payload focus. Students in the program gain valuable knowledge from the expertise of its many other sponsors, including the USAF and DoD STEM Programs, Orbital ATK, Blue Origin, Kratos Defense, and SpaceX, as well as its educational partners, Analytic Graphics, the Space Foundation, Coyote Enterprises and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Its mission is to promote a dominant United States Air Force and a strong national defense, and to honor Airmen and the nation’s Air Force Heritage.
This article is part of Space Watch: January 2017 (Volume: 16, Issue: 1).
Related Articles
