Collaborative distance design of aerospace structures

Syracuse and Cornell Universities have developed and are currently teaching a new senior level design course that emphasizes teamwork, collaboration at a distance and multidisciplinary activities. This project is intended to be a path finder for NASA as it researches and works to gain the acceptance of technologies that will enable geographically dispersed personnel to work closely on projects. The design project is based around structural and thermal systems for a reusable launch vehicle. The students engage in design, analysis, simulation, building, and testing using virtual reality, and synchronous and asynchronous learning environments. The course is taught synchronously at Cornell and Syracuse using advanced teleconferencing facilities. A key feature of the project is that teams, consisting of students from both Cornell and Syracuse, must work together on their designs. This is facilitated by the use of an advanced, web-based collaboration environment that allows for asynchronous and synchronous communication, including audio/video conferencing, screen and application sharing, chat, instant messaging, access to reference materials and to design and simulation software.