May 26, 2016
Energy Engineering and Computer Graphics Technology students captured second place and a $6,000 purse at the prestigious International SunSat Design Competition for their video and technical abstract “Pathway to Power”. The finals were held at the 35th annual International Space Development Conference (http://isdc.nss.org/2016/#/) held in San Juan, Puerto Rico May 18-22. Representing IUPUI, and mentored by Prof. Peter J. Schubert of the Richard G. Lugar Center for Renewable Energy, the team described a step-wise path by which wireless power transfer can solve ever-tougher energy challenges on earth. This can lead to a future with solar power satellites beaming clean, renewable, baseload power to every nation on earth. From the EEN program came team leader Javier Tandazo, along with Alexander Carter, Curtis Waggoner, and John Guggenheim. From CGT came Ethan Wong with support from Andrew Barnthouse, Garrett Ruble and several other classmates. Their final work product is viewable on YouTube at (https://youtu.be/XvlfdnSPZJQ). The team was honored at the National Space Society’s (www.nss.org) Gala Dinner the last night of the conference, a black-tie affair at which the 8-minute video was presented to leaders in the aerospace community. Space Solar Power is an area of active research at the Lugar Center with a dozen students continuing this excellent work during summer 2016.