Portland State Magazine Winter 2012

buy the frame and direct their creative energies toward the big hurdle-figuring out how to map an unseen building while flying. The solution requires a smattering of sensors, a dollop of math know-how, and a dash of artificial intelligence experience. If they do win, they will have turned a $4,000 investment into a $30,000 prize. That's some lucrative, yet legal, espionage. The PSU Aerospace Society is a group of 20-odd rocker enthu– siasts achieving milestones that elude professional companies. 'Iheir ultimate goal? Putting a nano-satellite into orbit. "For an amateur group, that's completely crazy," says junior Chris Mullens. Funny thing is, with three different Innovation Program grants in hand, the team is systematically ticking off the remaining hurdles. Now that they have achieved control of the inevitable roll as a rocket speeds coward space, they are working on a guidance system co steer the rocket as it hurdles to 528,000-feet. "To get this thing to punch through the atmosphere into orbit, we can't shoot it straight up or it will just fall straight back down," says Mullens. Rather, the rocket has to move tangentially co the Earth. "To do that, we need to steer the thing," says Mullens. "If we pull this off, we're going co have a whole lot of street credit-personally and professionally, which would be pretty cool." Josh Yasbek is a sophomore, a motorcyclist, and a tinkerer. He's using his newfound engineering skills to promote faster, safer motorcycling. A traction control gauge, he decided, would be ideal since losing traction while rounding a corner is the most common cause of crashes. Existing wheel-based traction control systems electronically cut engine or braking power, bur they work abruptly and eliminate the rider from rhe decision-making. Yasbek combined sensors on the suspen– sion system with LED sensors inside his helmet chat allow the rider co see weight distribution data while going through a corner. Unfortunately, the visual data proved distracting. While the gauge may not be the real-time read-out he envi– sioned, Yasbek realized it still has utility. He is now coupling sensors with a global positioning system to create a training tool to help racers optimize their driving. "Going from idea to product is a bigger process than what I expected," he says. ■ Virginia Gewin is afreel.ance sciencejournalist based in Portl.and. WINTER 2012 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 11