This IS Rocket Science! Penn State in a Race for Space

Can the Centre Region and Penn State become the hub of the aerospace industry in the next few years?

That’s the aim of Michael Paul, Space Systems Engineer with Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory. He recently addressed a meeting of the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County.

Paul has been named Director of Space Systems Initiatives at Penn State.

“Our whole vision is to bring new industry to Penn State and this region,” Paul said. “Why do I care about this? I love space research. People need to understand that space is about us.”

Paul is leading a team of researchers and students in a project known as The Lunar Lion. The project involves the design of a module that can be landed on the moon and then travel 500 meters on the lunar surface under its own power.

Accomplishing these tasks will bring one group a $20 million prize sponsored by Google and the X-Prize Foundation.

“We are one of 25 teams seeking to accomplish this,” Paul said. “The object is to be the first privately-funded flight to land on the moon. We will have the only university-led team in the competition.”

According to Paul, the launch will be subcontracted to a firm that specializes in rocketry. The launch target is September of 2015.

“We are very focused on winning the prize,” Paul noted.

The team includes about 40 students who come from a variety of majors, from business to engineering and space research.

The biggest concern for the team, right now, is finding the funding the lunar launch will require.

“Can we do this through philanthropy? Financing is as challenging as landing on the moon. No government funding is permitted,” Paul explained.

The mission is challenging, of course, but Paul believes it will reap many benefits for the entire region, including the creation of hundreds of jobs generated by the aerospace industry he envisions setting up in Happy Valley.

He notes, for example, that businesses designing and manufacturing guidance control systems would be just one of many space-related companies that likely would establish a presence in Centre County.

If an aerospace industry grows up around the Lunar Lion project, the value of the research will go back to the people who created it.

To underscore his economic point, Paul cited the example of Charles Lindbergh’s flight across the Atlantic.

“A group of businessmen from St Louis funded Lindbergh and his Spirit of St. Louis. After the successful journey, St. Louis became a major center for the airline industry.” He predicts a similar business development if the Lunar Lion project succeeds.

“Who knows what the future holds?” Paul asked. “What can’t we build together? Penn State can be a leader. It can educate. Bring value to Centre County and support research. People are putting pretty serious dollars and thought into space,” he said. “It’s not play money. Projects like this will also allow NASA to do more with less.”