Graduate students from Georgia Tech and North Carolina State University took first place honors in the 2009 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts Academic Linkage, or RASC-AL, contest sponsored by NASA and the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA). They presented their work at a forum in Cocoa Beach, Fla.

In the graduate division, a team of Georgia Tech and North Carolina State University students studying at NIA won first place for their project titled, "Reusable Lunar Transportation Architecture Utilizing Orbital Propellant Depots." Team members included Georgia Tech students Erik Axdahl, Patrick Chai, Michael Grimes, Robert Rowland and Matthew Long along with John Gaebler and Rafael Lugo from NC State. Prof. Alan Wilhite of Georgia Tech served as the team's advisor. An independent panel of space exploration experts drawn from NASA, industry and the academic community judged the entries. Teams scored points based on their final paper, oral presentations, outreach service, technicality and real-life concepts of the project. Over the course of the forum, students toured NASA's Kennedy Space Center, listened in on their peers' oral presentations and had the opportunity to network with one another and industry experts during the poster session and planned activities. For more information about the 2009 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts Academic Linkage competition and to view photos, please visit http://www.nianet.org/rascal