Italian Innovation in the US: Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Gets An Italian Edge
Posted by Machines Italia | 31 Aug 2012
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Sometimes it takes the cooperation of individuals across oceans to make great things happen. This year, as America watched with sadness as its shuttle program was canceled, senior level students at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Daytona Beach, FL, USA sought the help of their friends and engineers at Meccanotecnica Riesi S.r.l in Sicily, IT to keep space exploration relevant.
Embry Riddle strives to prepare its students for their careers in Aerospace while also lending its research facilities to the growth of the Aerospace industry itself. To fulfill both of these endeavors, ERAU launched a project to develop indigenous low-earth orbit capabilities and technologies that would ultimately provide a space-capable experiment service for its students, other local universities, and the space industry.
An additional component of this project—known to ERAU students and participating companies as Project Aquila— is to develop a system that employs cryogenic liquid rocket technologies: an innovative system which uses liquid rocket fuels for the purpose of increasing vehicle reusability. Project Aquila was assigned to students in the Senior Design class as well as in the Experimental Rocket Propulsion Labs (ERPL) club. ERAU’s Senior Design class, taught by Dr. Eric Perrell, has began its multi-year task in 2009 and is still in progress.
