CATIE Makerspace Research and Educational Facility
Antelope Valley College Palmdale Center
California Aerospace Technologies Institute of Excellence (CATIE) is establishing a Makerspace and Innovation Hub at Antelope Valley College Palmdale Center to provide and facilitate research and instructional facility for students and the greater Antelope Valley industry community. The Makerspace will house advanced software and milling machines, 3D printers, and integrated manufacturing tools. This will facilitate interdisciplinary additive and advanced manufacturing education/research and training programs on rapid prototyping and digitally driven production. The Makerspace will also promote collaborative creativity including seminars, certification programs and other events that bring industry professionals and entrepreneurs together across disciplines to solve and learn.
The Makerspace lab will facilitate participation in collaborative research, analysis/reviews of experimental data and numerical/analytical analysis techniques to expand fundamental understanding of propulsion and combustion of aerospace applications. Support Antelope Valley College in training engineering and Career Technical Education students by utilizing modem technologies, including instrumentation, data acquisition and data reduction techniques. Facilitate the training and recruitment of potential future employees for the Air Force and facilitate the identification of other mutually beneficial partnership opportunities. Activities at the lab will encourage and facilitate early interest in STEM fields in young people at all levels of their educational career.
Concentration areas of research and training may include and not limited to the following services:
- Additive Manufacturing
Research and training service to promote scientific investigations from academia, government and industry R&D activities across a broad array of capabilities, including CNC Machining, 3D Printing, Sheet Metal, Metal Stamping, Die Casting, Extrusion, Casting, and Injection Molding. Applications include testing and development of Additive Manufactured Propulsion System for use as a high impulse thruster for small to micro cubical satellites. Facilitate production of parts and components using additive manufacturing technologies in both metals and plastics for functional rocket motor system that allows for internal cavities and channels to be produced inside the part maintaining a single component.
- Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics
Research and training to promote the fluid flow around and within aircraft, rotorcraft, planetary entry vehicles, engines, and other complex systems. Research may conduct fundamental studies of flow physics and employs advanced computational and experimental techniques and facilities to extend the understanding and capabilities of many essential aerospace applications.
- Aeroelasticity Structural Dynamics
Research and training that facilitate the study of the unique coupling of structural mechanics with aerodynamic loads. Provide focus on nonlinear aeroelastic simulation algorithms and methodologies as well as wind energy, vibration, and related flow phenomena.
- Flight Mechanics Control
Research and training to the study of the behavior of dynamical systems. Experimental, theoretical, and analytical research in the flight mechanics and controls area focuses on fixed-architecture, robust, and neuro-fuzzy control, as well as flight and space control applications.
- Propulsion and Combustion
Research and training that facilitates the study of the conversion of chemical or electrical energy into thermal energy and/or thrust. Experimental and computational research in this area explores energetics, unsteady phenomena, and plasmas.
- Structural Mechanics Design and Materials Optimization
Facilitate research and training of the study of the mechanical behavior of structures formed from various materials. Research includes experimental & computational mechanics, composites, adaptive structures, fracture & fatigue, damage tolerance & failure prediction, structural stability, thermal & environmental effects, non-destructive evaluation, structural health monitoring, and system identification. Facilitate training with respect to system design and optimization that aligns all core aerospace disciplines, focusing specifically on the performance and life-cycle issues that impact mission success. This includes research on the identification and assessment of new aerospace technologies. It also employs computer simulation and analytical prediction techniques to assess new technologies and approaches.