(L to R): BRTC CTC Students Jonathan Moody, NASA HUNCH project manager/cofounder Robert Zeek, Machine Tool Technology Instructor Rick Barker and CTC student Jywon Green
Black River Technical College (BRTC) Machine Tool Technology (MTT) students met recently with NASA HUNCH Project Resource Manager/Cofounder Robert Zeek.
Zeek showed the students 30 designs that NASA HUNCH needs manufactured by May. “We’re in the selection process of which part of the Nanotracks the students will make,” said MTT Instructor Rick Barker. He added there are some limitations within the shop at BRTC that will keep them from addressing some of the parts such as a lack of material.
The Nanotracks are important to NASA because they will be used launch mini satellites from the International Space Station to explore deep outer space where NASA will be searching for asteroids and exoplanets. Barker said the Nanotrack parts will be a fast-paced project that is due at the end of May.
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 MTT 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.
