Young collaborates with NASA at Langley Research Center

For some, a dusty place where it snows and the average temperature is 81 degrees below zero Fahrenheit might not be an appealing destination.

But Mars — the fourth planet from the sun — is a place NASA intends for astronauts to explore.

Scientists at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia routinely ask, “How do we get there? What will we find? And what can we learn there that will make life better here on Earth?”

And Andrew Young, a University of Maine doctoral student in civil engineering who conducts research at the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center and a NASA Space Technology Research Fellow, is working to help NASA get people there.

Andy YoungEarlier this year, Young took part in a 10-week visiting technologist experience at Langley Research Center to help further that goal. NASA had named Young a fellow for his efforts, and results, on testing its Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) at the Composites Center.

NASA annually sponsors fellows — graduate students with potential to contribute “to creating innovative new space technologies for the U.S. science, exploration and economic future.”

The HIAD — which resembles a badminton birdie or shuttlecock — mounts on a nose of a spacecraft. As the craft enters a planet’s atmosphere, the HIAD inflates to slow the craft so it can safely land.

The atmosphere on Mars is 96 percent carbon dioxide; Earth’s is 78 percent nitrogen, 20 percent oxygen and .039 percent carbon dioxide.

NASA’s HIAD technology is intended to make it possible for a spaceship large enough to carry astronauts and heavy loads of scientific equipment to explore Mars — which is about 34,092,627 miles from Earth — and beyond.

Young and other UMaine engineers are testing the HIAD for NASA and analyzing stresses and deformations at the Composites Center. NASA and EPSCoR are funding the three-year $750,000 project.

“The UMaine Composites Center provides me with opportunities and resources I never would’ve thought available in Maine, especially the opportunity to work so closely with NASA on this technology,” says Young.

In Virginia, Young collaborated with NASA scientists and conducted complex advanced numerical modeling of the structural behavior of the HIAD and its components to understand the structures at a material, component and structural level.

Results gleaned in Virginia were promising and provided a roadmap for continued work on the project at UMaine, said Young, who is on schedule to earn his doctorate in summer 2017. His thesis title: Large Payload HIAD Systems: Structural Investigation and Optimization.

The Poland Springs, Maine native said working at the 800-acre Langley campus — which boasts more than 20 major test wind tunnels — was exciting, worthwhile and provided an interesting insider’s perspective.

Young attended UMaine after working for eight years right out of high school. He said he wanted a steeper career trajectory.

His academic path at UMaine has been impressive.

In 2011, when he earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, Young was presented the Hovey Award, which is given to the outstanding senior in civil and environmental engineering.

And in 2013, when he earned a master’s degree in civil engineering, he was named the Outstanding Graduate Student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and received the Director’s Award at the Composites Center.

After earning his doctorate, Young said he’d like to continue contributing to purposeful engineering projects and perhaps teach.

His collaborators at UMaine for the HIAD testing include: Bill Davids, the John C. Bridge Professor and chair of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department; Andrew Goupee, Libra Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering; and Joshua Clapp, a doctoral student in civil (structural) engineering.

Contact: Beth Staples, 207.581.3777