School of AAE's Ph.D. student Sarag Saikia receives 1st Prize on behalf of team members at 11th International Planetary Probe Workshop (IPPW)
| Event Date: | November 17, 2014 |
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Purdue University School of Aeronautics and Astronautics team members were awarded 1st prize for their poster entitled, "Marching Towards Troy: Exploration of the Jupiter Trojan Asteroids" in the Outstanding Student Poster Presentation at the 11th International Planetary Probe Workshop (IPPW11) held at Caltech, Pasadena, CA, June 16-20, 2014.
As the lead author, Sarag J. Saikia received the 1st Prize on behalf of the team of students involved in the research. The co-authors are Ashwati Das, Frank Laipert, Christopher Dapkus, Jordan Kendall, Tim Bowling, Jordan Steckloff, Sadie Holbert, Kevin Graves, Thomas Antony, Rebecca Bobick, Ya-Huei Huang, and Jeffrey Stuart. Professors David Minton and James Longuski are the faculty advisors. The co-authors formed an interdisciplinary team from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Department of Physics of Purdue University.
The poster summarizes a NASA New Frontiers mission concept to explore two spectrally-different Jupiter Trojan asteroids — Agapenor and Hektor. A mission to explore the Jupiter Trojans is one of the highest priority to NASA among medium-class missions. These asteroids are a potential source of insights into long standing questions on the origin and early history of the Solar System.
The paper is the result of an experimental course, EAPS591: Science and Exploration of Small Solar System Bodies. The course was co-designed and co-taught by Sarag Saikia and Professor David Minton in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. The key objective of the course was to teach both the science and engineering aspects of planetary exploration missions. The students underwent an intensive exercise to develop an early mission concept study. The mission design exercise was matched closely as how it is done by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Advanced Projects Design Team ("Team X").
Sarag also presented two other papers at the workshop. He was also awarded a competitive scholarship of $2300 to attend both the 11th IPPW and the short 2-day course on 
"Discovery and Surprise: Science from Planetary Probes." The IPPW brings together engineers, technologists, scientists, mission designers, space agency leaders, and students from around the world for a compelling, week-long collaboration focused on exploring solar system destinations via in-situ missions.
In 2013, Sarag also won the 2nd Prize in the Outstanding Student Paper Presentation at the 10th IPPW held in San Jose, CA. Sarag is a Ph.D. candidate in the Advanced Astrodynamics Concepts research group under the supervision of Professor James M. Longuski in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Photo captions: top: Sarag Saikia (left) and Dr. James Longuski (right). bottom: Dr. David Minton.
Related:
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/ippw2014
https://engineering.purdue.edu/AAC/ph-d-candidates/sarag-j-saikia