Black River Technical College’s (BRTC) Machine Tool and Technology program is excited to announce that the prototype for the power supply brick that will power an International Space Station has been approved and they will move forward building 11 more.
CTC students Hank Dubois, Jacob Barnhill, Jonathan Moody, Colton Vallance, Jywon Green, and other Machine Tool Technology students designed the power brick from blueprints provided by NASA. They used a computer program to design a 3D layout and eventual print of the power brick on an Onyx 3D Printer.
Each student involved with the project will add their name to each power brick and a piece of work they created will be forever in space.
“It’s surreal to know that something you built is going to be on the International Space Station, or in space in general,” said Barnhill.
NASA HUNCH has also given the BRTC CTC students two new missions; to machine Nanotrack parts and build nanoracks. The nanorack that will be produced beginning in Fall 2023 will be a piece of the launching system that will allow the International Space Stations to deploy satellites.
“While we won’t be working on the nanoracks this semester, we will be machining parts for the Nanotrack. We will be tasked with innovative machining and rapid development of parts to improve the Nanotrack deployment of mini satellites. The parts are made from 6061T6 aluminum, “said Machine Tool Technology Instructor Rick Barker.
HUNCH (High school students United with NASA to Create Hardware) is a program where High School students learn how to design and fabricate products for space. To date, the program has 277 participating schools, over 2,500 students, and has flown 1,340 items to the ISS. The program has a number of focus areas, including hardware manufacturing (design and prototyping as well as actual manufacturing), software development, soft goods sewing, video and media development, and culinary/cooking programs. Fundamentally it works like an apprenticeship; the programs in the schools teach students these skills and then immediately implement them to produce flight hardware for space, according to nasahunch.com.
The BRTC Machine Tool Technology program is one of three schools in Arkansas currently collaborating with the NASA HUNCH program and has done so since the fall semester of 2022. The mission of the partnership is to “empower and inspire students through a Project Based Learning program where high school students learn 21st century skills and have the opportunity to launch their careers through the participation in the design and fabrication of real-world valued products for NASA.”
Through BRTC’s partnership with NASA HUNCH, students will be given the opportunity to work on special projects for NASA; for example, students will have the opportunity to make parts for the International Space Station, make parts that will be used to restore a plane that will be housed in the Smithsonian Institute, and work with NASA prints and other certified materials.
Each student involved will be given a NASA certification number they can use on future resumes as proof of their work with NASA.
For more information about the NASA HUNCH program or the Machine Tool Technology program contact Rick Barker at (870)248-4139 or email him at rick.barker@blackrivertech.edu.
For more information on BRTC’s CTC program contact Darenda Kersey at (870) 248-4184 or email at darenda.kersey@blackrivertech.edu.