News

New fund to sustain Vanderbilt Rocket Team successes
Emeritus trustee creates Dalton Vanderbilt Aerospace Design Laboratory Fund to support lab’s vision

VADL Provides Wind Power Demonstration
VADL team members engaged students from Whites Creek Academy in a tour of Vanderbilt’s solar array and turbines set up by VADL faculty lead Dr. Amrutur Anilkumar.

VADL wins payload design, project review awards at Student Launch 2016
“The Vanderbilt student rocket team collected two key awards in NASA’s Student Launch Challenge following a near flawless flight of their Thrustworthy rocket Saturday, April 16, at Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama. ...”

VADL takes home national championship for the fourth year in a row
“Vanderbilt student rocketeers have won NASA’s Orbital-ATK University Student Launch competition for the fourth year in a row. They had to beat out 40 other university teams in the yearlong national competition in order to achieve this ‘four-peat’ ...”

Mechanical engineering graduate student collects national and international astronautical awards
Christopher T. Lyne has won two prestigious awards hailing his work in astronautics. Lyne, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, has received the 2016 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Foundation Abe M. Zarem Award for Distinguished Achievement in Astronautics. Both awards are for his paper: “Design and Test of a 10N Hydrogen-Peroxide Monopropellant...

Love Circle energy park to reach 5 years of continuous operation
On Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017, the renewable energy pilot facility atop Nashville’s Love Circle will complete five years of continuous operation. A joint venture between the Vanderbilt School of Engineering and Metro Water Services, the public service project features a wind turbine and solar panels. It is a field training point for Vanderbilt engineering students and field...

Student Rocketeers earn second place in NASA contest
Engineering students from the Vanderbilt Aerospace Design Laboratory earned the second place in the 2017 NASA-Orbital ATK Rocket Challenge. They received a cash prize of $2,500, an award created this year by the National Space Club in Huntsville, Alabama.

VADL contributes to Maker Faire’s success
Members of Vanderbilt’s Aerospace Design Laboratory demonstrate their rocket, payload, and test stand to the nearly 4,000 attendees of Nashville’s First Mini Maker Faire.

Novel two-part rocket design addresses NASA challenge
Rockets naturally roll during ascent, posing great difficulty in imaging objects on the ground. Engineering students in the Vanderbilt Aerospace Design Laboratory tackled that challenge. On Saturday, April 7, at the 2018 NASA Student Launch Competition in Toney, Alabama, they will demonstrate a payload design that helps capture image targets...

Vanderbilt’s rocket rolls and captures payload design award at NASA launch contest
The Vanderbilt rocket team collected a key award at the NASA’s Student Launch Challenge and followed up with a successful flight of their rocket Sunday, April 8, at Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama. At the awards banquet at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville April 7, Vanderbilt – four-time national champs – won...

Space Force Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond visits Vanderbilt, laying groundwork for future partnership
United States Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond visited Vanderbilt University to learn about the pioneering aerospace engineering projects at the university’s research institutes and trans-institutional programs. The visit also presented areas for collaboration with the newest independent service of the U.S. military.

VADL alumnus makes Forbes' 30 Under 30 list with solar cell startup
VADL Alumnus Kevin Bush, BE’14, has been named to the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 List, which highlights “600 revolutionaries in 20 industries changing the course-and the face-of business and society.” Bush was selected in the energy sector...