ME Undergrads Take 3rd Place in NASA Aeronautics University Design Challenge 2016-2017

A UC Berkeley student team placed among the finalists awarded the top three prizes in the NASA Aeronautics Design Challenge 2016-1017. The competition, which drew entries from 26 different teams, evaluated the quality and feasibility of each submission: a design proposal for a commercial supersonic business jet that would theoretically meet NASA’s performance criteria and environmental goals as soon as 2025.

The team, consisting of Raghav Anand (EECS 2020), Alec English (ME & Physics 2019), Dante Gao (ME 2019), Saunon Malekshahi (ME 2019), Rohan Sinha (ME & EECS 2019), and Noah Stevenson (Physics 2019), won Honorable Mention in the supersonic division, holding their own against older, more experienced teams, most of whom came from schools with specific Aerospace Engineering departments, with several submitting capstone undergraduate projects as their entries.

The team’s design, named Goldeneye AB1, features a novel variable geometry wing design that allows it to fly efficiently at both supersonic and subsonic speeds, all while maintaining high lift. The participants were invited to present their paper during the winner’s symposium at NASA’s Langley Research Center from September 25th-26th.