UVA
SOLAR AIRSHIP PROGRAM
Aztec, the flagship of the Solar Airship Program,
is a much more advanced ship than its predecessors. The ship is 20 meters in length
and 5 meters in diameter at its widest point. The ship is propelled and steered
using three vectorable thrusters and Wright Brother style wings help to steer
the ship at medium and high velocities. All onboard components are controlled
by an advanced control system and onboard computer which communicates with a ground-based
PC via radio modem.
SOLAR CAR
In 1999, U.Va. engineering students
qualified for Sunrayce, the biannual long-distance solar car competition. The
U.Va. team raced down the Eastern Seaboard, from Washington, D.C., to Orlando,
Florida with 39 other teams, a trip of 1,359 miles. After the race, the U.Va.
car joined just eleven others at the Epcot Center, where it was viewed by thousands.
CONCRETE
CANOE
They do float! Each year, a team of students designs, builds, and
races a new concrete canoe. But it's not just a race: regional and national concrete
canoe competitions are designed to test all aspects of the team's preparation.
A written technical report, an oral presentation, a visual/multimedia display,
and finally, the race push the team and the canoe to their limits-and closely
parallel the challenges engineers face in the field.
LEGENDS RACING
TEAM
Students can hardly find a better way to put engineering theory into
practice than modifying and driving racing cars. Every year, about 60 students
do just that, as part of the SEAS Motorsports Engineering Program. What's more,
they are having a lot of fun, competing against other mid-Atlantic schools on
design and driving their Legends cars.
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