Launching missiles, or rockets, at Técnico’s Alameda campus is an event for children and grown-ups alike. For the younger generations, who often create the projectiles that are launched into the air, the excitement is the greatest – and for that reason the activity remains, year after year, one of the most successful events that Summer at ULisboa (formerly Summer at Técnica) has to offer.
The Portuguese Association of Aeronautics and Space (APAE), an association of aerospace engineering students from Técnico that focuses on the dissemination and development of activities in the field of aeronautics and space, has been responsible for this activity. The first step for the young people between 12 and 17 participating in the event is to understand the composition of a rocket. Once they have, it’s time to get their hands dirty: with wood, twine, glue, paper and a lot of mistakes and laughter in the mix, they are given three hours to create a mini-rocket that will fly over the campus.
“They are all very motivated”, confirms Mafalda Magro, one of the monitors accompanying the group working at this particular moment. And it can be seen from a distance: everyone present is either working, giving opinions or correcting their colleagues. As for the result, it will only be visible by the end of the week, when all the models built are launched.
The activity that comprises this year’s Summer at ULisboa is based on a rocket construction introductory workshop that has long been part of the Aerospace Week program, which is included in the well-known IST Career Weeks. The fact that it is addressed to people who know nothing about small or big rockets is perfect for these primary and secondary school pupils. As long as there are materials, mistakes are welcome; and the point is to learn something during those hours of fun.
APAE is one of the two aeronautics and aerospace engineering student groups at Técnico. It works mainly in the dissemination of these subjects, while S3A – the Autonomous Section of Applied Aeronautics – focuses on projects and international competitions.
Samuel Franco, president of S3A, explains that the two groups are “complementary” and work in different areas. “S3A was born after two teams from Técnico took part in the Air Cargo Challenge, an aeronautical competition. We decided to form a group that ensures the transmission of knowledge in this area from older to younger students.”
Currently, S3A’s main mission is to take part in the biennial Air Cargo Challenge competition, which took place in Stuttgart, Germany this year, but it doesn’t stop there: the group also organizes an aeromodelling competition – called Flying Ideas – which is open to the whole Universidade de Lisboa community, and a six-month introduction course to aeromodelling, known as CIA, besides publishing a magazine, called Aeroespacial, with articles about the field.
The two student groups depend on the regular addition of new members to ensure the maintenance of its activities and projects. As stated by Samuel Franco, “the reason why S3A was created was precisely to facilitate the transmission of knowledge between old and new members, between people who want to learn”.
One of the group’s concerns – an autonomous section of Técnico’s Student Association – is to ensure that new members feel like a part of the team and work in the area they like the most. “We always start out by giving small tasks to new members so that they will figure out what they like to do and where they feel the most comfortable. From there on, they are placed in a given area in one of the projects.”
In one way or the other, all twenty S3A members work on the aeromodel competing at the Air Cargo Challenge event – where several aspects, such as the ability to carry load, the airplane design, stability, etc., are evaluated – but only six (and an external pilot) actually go to the competition, which is always held in the last winner’s country. The remaining members are, in a way, spread across the other projects carried out by the group.
The Flying Ideas competition resulted precisely from the need to keep the whole team busy, especially during the years in which they are not taking part in the Air Cargo Challenge event. “The idea of Flying Ideas is for each team to build an indoor or outdoor model to participate in this internal competition”, says Samuel Franco. “We’ve had totally different planes, with completely crazy ideas – some worked, others didn’t.”
A jury assesses the airplanes’ flight, their stability and their stunts and, in the end, the scores decide the winning team: “This is the project that brings us more visibility”, says an aerospace engineering Master’s student, adding that they manage to attract members to the group from among the competition participants. “And we don’t want students only from aero, there are many students from other programs who are interested in this area and we are looking for them.”
What to expect from these kind of groups? Samuel can only speak for himself: “I joined the S3A group because I felt the need to do something besides the work for my degree. I wanted to gain a little more experience and other soft skills.” “S3A complements the program, in a more practical manner. We end up working with laboratory machines or with modelling programs and structures. All this is knowledge that we have acquired throughout the program, but then we apply it to a specific project.”
And is it easy to combine projects and studying? “Yes, as long as there is organization. Of course it depends on each particular person, but everyone manages their work and time as they seem fit, provided they meet the deadlines. It seems perfectly possible, even for first-year students.”
