Aerospace Club

Aerospace eXperimental Payloads (AXP)

August 2023 - present

The Experience

Normal Tasks:

• In AXP, we meet on a weekly basis to discuss and work on a specified project. Since I've been at UNL, we've created payloads for the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP), the High-Altitude Student Platform (HASP) which launched on September 4, 2025, and most recently, NASA's RockSat program that launched on June 24, 2026. In most of these projects, as well as many test launches, our payloads have been launched into low earth orbit on a weather balloon. Our RockSat payload was launched on a sounding rocket, which brought about a new testing environment and all the challenges that go with that.

• I've been on the mechanical team since joining the club, and I was mechanical team lead durin my third year, leading the mechanical side of our RockSat payload. In my past roles, I've assisted in designing and building our payloads that will house our test samples, perovskite solar cells and modules, to provide another test environment for these new and energy-efficient cells. This involves work on SolidWorks and being able to convert these models into real payloads.

Challenges:

• Most challenges we encounter on the mechanical side are during the design process. This involves finding dimensions for different parts and ensuring the payload follows all given guidelines, many of which are dictated by the project organization we are working with and the electrical team's needs. With so many different requirements, it often takes a couple revolutions to design something that satisfies everyone and is possible for us to make in our timeframe.

Learnings

Skills:

• From this club, I've learned a lot about collaboration and gained mechanical design exposure. Of course, as a team, we all have to work together to create our payload, but seeing how leadership roles work and how tasks are delegated helped me get use to a collaborative setting where no one is told exactly what they're supposed to do. This goes into the design exposure, as it took me a very long time to be willing to share my opinions and feel confident in my design decisions.

Future Applications

Career Impact:

• This club allows me to learn more about my interests in aerospace while also ensuring I'm not limited to only aerospace if my future goals happen to change.

• As of now, however, this experience has confirmed that I would like to continue down the path of aerospace, specifically regarding outer space and research that can be done in this field.