Lockheed Martin Funds Florida Tech Rocket Project

– Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Melbourne is helping a team of Florida Tech students know what it’s like to be rocket scientists with the gift
of $4,000 for a rocket launch. To be led by the university’s capstone senior design team, FITSat III, the launch will simulate NASA’s Mars Airplane Package
mission on earth.

Team members represent the College of Engineering departments of mechanical and aerospace engineering, computer science, computer engineering and
electrical engineering.

The team will first launch a prototype rocket within the next few weeks to test the systems to be included in a full-scale rocket. That 17-1/2-foot rocket,
to be launched by the team in April 2003, will carry an Aerial Exploration Vehicle (AEV) in its payload bay. The AEV will collect and send data and
streaming video to the Ground Control Station. The GCS will store, analyze and display the information and send real-time flight control commands back to
the AEV.

The FITSat III project has also been locally sponsored by Intersil and WingCo. National sponsors include Freewave, Energy Laboratories Inc., NEFAR and
Skylane Parachutes; Oryx Industries and Cesaroni Motors are international sponsors.

For more information, visit: www.fit.edu/projects/fitsat3/