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Lifting off in the name of aerospace

Inspiring students to fulfill their goals and achieve wind efficiency — while blasting rockets into the air — was why Eric Besnard, a Cal State Long Beach aeronautics and aerospace professor, received the 2009 Faculty Adviser Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Besnard was presented the award at the 47th annual AIAA Aerospace Science Meeting Award Banquet in Orlando, Fla., and was recognized for his hands-on work as head of an on-campus rocket program called the California Launch Vehicle Education Initiative.

Besnard, the adviser of CSULB’s AIAA student chapter, said he felt humbled by receiving the award and proud to be recognized for the work he does with students.

Several of Besnard’s students have displayed their work at the AIAA 2008 Region VI Student Conference and have won awards for their wind-sensing projects, one of which could be used during rocket launches “to measure the prevalent wind at altitude,” according to a press release.

“For me, I have focused on launch-vehicle applications, which have led to several ‘firsts’ in aerospace, including the first flight of an Aerospike rocket engine in 2003 and the first known Lox/Methane rocket flight in 2008,” Besnard said. “The latter is significant because NASA is looking at these for future moon and Mars missions.”

Along with his workload of classes, Besnard has, for the past 15 years, participated in aerodynamic and hydrodynamic research in computational fluid dynamics applied to the design and optimization of ocean, air and space vehicles.

“The interesting new part in our business is that of space access for people and unmanned applications,” Besnard said. “Several billionaires are investing parts of their fortune, trying to foster new markets which could change the way we view space transportation.”

Besnard also mentioned that there are individuals in the field who are making breakthroughs in low-cost space access and using air-launched spacecrafts for space tourism.

“Where we will be in 20 years greatly depends on the successes and failures of these space-faring entrepreneurs,” Besnard said.

The AIAA is an organization for the advancement of space aviation, engineering and defense.

The recipient is chosen based on the recommendations of students in a chartered AIAA student branch and the AIAA student activities committee. In addition, the candidates’ contributions to local and national activities are reviewed.

2 Comments

  1. Avatar

    This would be a cool story if I could understand more of it. I’m not a rocket scientist and don’t understand the the technical stuff, but it sounds interesting. Go space dogs.

  2. Avatar

    Dude, that’s cool about how he helped make possible a rocket that’ll be used for moon and mars missions. GO BEACH!

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