Aerospace Engineering at The University of Illinois

Home
United States
Urbana, IL
Aerospace Engineering at The University of Illinois

Official account for the Department of Aerospace Engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

AE follows the same posting policy as the U of I:https://bit.ly/34sgaLw

05/27/2026

Low-Earth orbit, home to the International Space Station and countless satellites, has become a racetrack filled with space junk, skyrocketing the possibilities for collisions. A new lab facility is addressing this dangerous highway. It runs experiments on the materials used on the outermost surface of spacecraft that provide protection from impact, because even tiny specks of dust traveling at orbital speeds can create major damage.

The star of the new facility is a two-stage, light-gas gun. It sequentially compresses helium and then hydrogen to propel several-millimeter-size projectiles through a tube at speeds of up to 7.5 kilometers per second to impact test materials mounted at the end of this 35-foot projectile launcher. By way of comparison, a bullet fired from a high-power rifle travels a little over 1 kilometer per second.

Learn more at https://aerospace.illinois.edu/news/85796

05/23/2026

Just for fun ...

Three aerospace engineering undergrad students created a 13-minute Sci-Fi road trip comedy film entitled "Standard Procedure." 例行操作 The film is in
Mandarin with English subtitles.

Summary: The year is 2081, and humanity is colonizing the solar system. Two ordinary pilots of an ordinary cargo ship fly routine shipments between Ganymede and Callisto. They have been entrusted by an eccentric CEO to deliver a mysterious package to Callisto so he can complete a business deal. Little do they know, the package's mysterious contents start wreaking havoc on numerous ship systems. They must settle their ideological differences and work together to keep the ship on track, while simultaneously fending off annoying calls from the CEO asking for updates.

Made using Unreal Engine 5, Blender and DaVinci Resolve.
例行操作

You can watch the film on Martian Builder's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxZQ-YC9dfg

05/20/2026

Read a Q&A with Vincent Kim, BS '26. Learn about his work with additive manufacturing of composites, the people who supported him while at Illinois, his amazing study abroad trip to Brazil and what he’s doing this fall. AE.Illinois.edu

05/18/2026

Read a Q&A with Santiago Zapata Zuluaga, BS '26. Learn about why he chose to study at the University of Illinois, his leadership and activities with the Liquid Rocketry at Illinois student organization, his study abroad semester in Spain, his greatest challenges and his proudest accomplishments. AE.Illinois.edu

05/16/2026

All of us in the Dept. of Aerospace Engineering share in the joy of your accomplishments. We're so proud of you. Now that you are officially Illinois alumni, please remember to keep in touch. We are eager to hear how you're doing and where you've landed after graduation!

05/15/2026

Read a Q&A with Nicolas Vincent, BS '26. Learn about why he chose to study at
Illinois, the professors who made a difference, the hands-on experiences he
enjoyed and what’s on his bucket list. AE.Illinois.edu

05/13/2026

Read a Q&A with Tuhin Bandopadhyay, PhD '26. Learn about his research with
Laura Villafañe Roca, the challenge of building the vertical wind tunnel and the
acting and directing he did for fun. AE.illinois.edu

05/11/2026

Read a Q&A with Luke McNamara, BS '26. Learn about why he chose Illinois, his
favorite class, his work with AIAA, his biggest challenge and what’s on his
bucket list at AE.Illinois.edu.

05/08/2026

The Illinois Space Society’s Solid Propulsion team and students in AE199, Rocket Development/Safety/Leadership successfully conducted a hot fire test

“This marks the program’s first demonstration of a horizontal test capability which sustained a max thrust of 1,345 N for a total burn time of 7.1 seconds,” said Joseph Gonzalez, aerospace engineering instructor and faculty advisor for the team. “From initial requirements definition through design, fabrication, and ex*****on, the team followed a disciplined, systems engineering approach aligned with industry practices. This milestone reflects not only strong technical performance, but also the team’s resilience in overcoming challenges across safety, integration, and test operations.”

Gonzalez noted that everything was manufactured by Dustin Burns and his team in the Talbot Laboratory machine shop.

Photos:

Solid Propulsion Team

Left to right: Vincent Kim (aerospace), manufacturing; Margot DeLaTorre (aerospace), structures; Zach Dahhan (aerospace), project lead; Ari Frost (chemical engineering), safety officer; Anika Bansal (aerospace), testing & simulations; Mariano Rodriguez (computer science), software and electronics lead.

Team Lead Zach Dahhan with test equipment

Hot fire test

Address

309 Talbot Lab, 104 S Wright Street
Urbana, IL
61801

Website

http://www.ae.illinois.edu/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Aerospace Engineering at The University of Illinois posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Want your university to be the top-listed University in Urbana?