Page 8 - ME Newsletter Fall
P. 8
RESEARCH
UMN ME Reaches New Heights
Assistant Professor Oggy Ilic’s research group, the Laboratory for Nano Optics and Mechanics, sent the new Minnesota state flag on its first flight to space.
A team of engineers from ME and AEM, along with a half dozen students, worked together to launch research materials like cameras, thermometers, GPS, and altitude and pressure sensors into space from Montgomery, MN. The experiment was designed to determine how materials fabricated at the Minnesota Nano Center behaved outside
of Earth’s atmosphere — particularly how they reacted to radiation and cosmic rays. The payload hung from a balloon above Minnesota for several hours before returning to Earth.
Ilic’s announcement about the flag’s journey garnered widespread celebrations, including comments from Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan.
8 ME News Fall 2024
