The Mars Society Purdue Chapter won 3rd place in the International Gemini Mars Design Competition. The competition involved designing a two-person Mars flyby mission that can be launched no later than 2024 as cheaply, safely and simply as possible.

Jerry Ross was the VIP astronaut for Purdue Space Day 2016. Ross is a veteran of seven U.S. Space Shuttle missions and shares an individual world record for the most spaceflights flown. Purdue Space Day hosted nearly 600 third-through-eighth graders. This was the 21st year for the annual one-day camp.

A technology being developed by Purdue AAE alumnus Adam Weaver (MSAAE '12) could provide a more effective way to efficiently deliver coolant to turbine blades in gas turbine engines, one of the most widely used power-generating technologies. The innovation could potentially make engines on a global scale more efficient, safer and environmentally friendlier.

Purdue researchers working on the Aerodynamic Deorbit Experiment (ADE) won the opportunity from United Launch Alliance to send their experiment on a future Atlas V rocket mission. AAE Associate Prof. David Spencer is the PI on the project. AAE Prof. Alina Alexeenko is co-PI.

Alumnus Mike Moses (MSAAE '95) has been named president of Virgin Galactic. Moses was a student of Prof. Stephen Heister. He was awarded the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Outstanding Aerospace Engineer award in 2011.

One team of students from each section of the Introduction to Aerospace Design course was recognized for its work. The course was taught by AAE Associate Professor Karen Marais.

AAE PhD student Arnau Pons has been appointed as the Congress Manager of the Space Generation Congress 2017 in Adelaide, Australia. Pons will lead a team of international students and young professionals coordinating the organization and preparation for SGC 2017, which will be hosted at the University of Adelaide from September 21st to 23rd.

AAE Associate Professor Timothee Pourpoint has been selected as an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Pourpoint will be inducted with other new associate fellows from around the world at a ceremony during the AIAA SciTech Forum in Grapevine, TX on January 9, 2017.

Professor Steven Collicott and students from his Zero-Gravity Flight Experiment class have been helping students from West Lafayette's Cumberland Elementary School discover if fireflies light up in space. The Zero-Gravity Glow Experiment is scheduled on the first Blue Origin rocket flight of 2017.

AAE Professor Dan Dumbacher says the transfer of propellant, the budget and the effects of long stays in space are still challenges facing SpaceX’s proposal to colonize Mars. Prof. Dumbacher speaks with Aviation Week’s Frank Morring in this podcast.