From left, aerospace engineering graduate students Rohit Kulkami , Manjul Gupta, Jennifer Grant, Clay Robertson, Kevin Albarado, Rachel Ottaway, Vivek Ahuja, Jason Cary, David Wall, Thomas Walsh and faculty adviser Roy Hartfield (team member Harris Haynes is not pictured)

Auburn University’s missile design team has received top honors at the 2010-2011 Missile Systems Design Competition (MSDC), placing second overall in the national competition. Design teams are evaluated for technical content and mission capability, as well as practical application and feasibility. The team includes aerospace engineering graduate students Kevin Albarado, Jason Cary, Manjul Gupta, Jennifer Grant, Harris Haynes, Rohit Kulkarni, Rachel Ottaway, Clay Robertson, David Wall, Thomas Walsh and team leader Vivek Ahuja. The team is advised by faculty member Roy Hartfield, the Walt and Virginia Woltosz professor of aerospace engineering. 

“Auburn’s team was at a distinct advantage compared to other universities,” said Ahuja. “We possess powerful missile systems design software tools developed over the years for academic research purposes.”

Conference attendees also included Georgia Tech, whose team earned first place, and the Naval Post Graduate School, the third place team. The MSDC is organized by the Missile Systems Technical Committee (MSTC) and takes place throughout the year, offering graduate students the opportunity to design high-performance, multi-mission missile systems.

The Auburn team presented their second-place design to the United States Air Force and Boeing, as well as to the Joint Army Navy NASA Air-Force (JANNAF) conference in Huntsville, Dec. 5-9. 

Ahuja and Cary recently published a book, Project SENTINEL: Design of a Long-Range, High-Speed, Precision-Strike Tactical Weapon, which they developed during the competition as a practical applications resource for aerospace and mechanical engineering students and professionals. Their book draws on software tools developed in Auburn’s aerospace engineering program and outlines the process of missile design from basic parameters to final production review. 

Contributed by Amelia Williams