Abstract
STEVEN F. SON has a surefire recipe for stress: Set up a costly and labor-intensive experiment you’ve never done before and then invite your sponsors to come and see it. That’s the nerve-racking position the Purdue University mechanical engineering professor found himself in this past August as he stood in an Indiana field, hoping a 9-foot rocket would lift off. As he watched the slim black rocket race 1,300 feet into the sky, Son says, he mainly felt relieved. But there was also a hint of vindication at seeing a project succeed that many said would never get off the ground. The entire rocket assembly, from tip to tail fins, had been built by Son and his collaborators at Purdue and Pennsylvania State University, but it was the gray toothpaste-like material loaded inside the rocket that brought representatives from the National Aeronautics & Space Administration and the Air Force. That paste, a blend of aluminum ...
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
