The First Undergraduate Research Group to Send Their Studies to Space—Laura Potterat and Michael O’Neill—USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory

The USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory was founded in 2005 with the goal of putting an undergraduate student designed and built rocket into space—which is defined as being at least 100 km or about 330,000 feet above Earth’s surface. Just this past year, this goal was finally reached. On today’s episode, Michael O’Neill and Laura Potterat, media lead and avionics lead at the lab, respectively, share their experiences as members of the team who finally made this happen, the challenges they faced along the way, and what the accomplishment means for their future work. By tuning in, you'll discover: How the work being done at USC Rocket Propulsion Lab could lead to a cheaper and simpler way of obtaining atmospheric data What a peek into the design and function of space rockets looks like  The challenge of characterizing the performance of the rocket, including its acceleration and position Check out uscrpl.com to learn more.