The mission objective for this project was to design, test, and fly a fully autonomous aircraft capable of detecting, containing, and fighting fires in a variety of circumstances. Through the integration of a variety of skill sets from different team members, including aerodynamic, controls, manufacturing, programming, and optimization expertise, the team was able to construct and complete multiple successful fire fighting missions in just 10 weeks of hard work. This was accomplished using only two main aircraft design iterations and keeping with the same philosophy throughout. Images for Spaero 2 can be seen above and below, and pictures of Spaero 1 and 2 can be found here. The second design iteration proved so successful that the team was able to continually test mission plans from an early stage, leading to a successful strategy.
Team members can be found here.