More news from the Queen’s Space Engineering Team

Jonathan Boulanger, President of the Queen’s Space Engineering Team, has graciously consented to answer some questions I emailed him:

[Space Elevator Blog – SEB] – What got you and your team interested in the idea of a Space Elevator and the competition itself?
[Jonathan Boulanger – JB] – I first became interested in the idea of a Space Elevator through a project in my second year applied physics class.  I personally took a unique interest as carbon nanotubes fascinated me (and they still do). Just over a year ago I stumbled upon the Elevator2010 website.  After telling a few people about the competition support for creating a team was huge and before you knew it, here we are. Moral of the story, cutting edge ideas sell.

[SEB] – Is your team comprised of all University students or do you plan on partnering with anyone outside of the University (outside of TRUMPF)?
[JB] – The Queen’s Space Engineering Team (QSET) is primarily composed of university students; however, we are no stranger to outside consultation.  Several Queen’s Alumni have contributed time, experience, and funding to our project. Presently, QSET has begun a partnership with TRUMPF. Our partnership with TRUMPF will go a long way towards bridging the gap between our relatively new team and more founded teams, such as USST or LaserMotive.  We hope to give everyone a run for their (or rather, NASA’s) money.

[SEB] – How many members – what kind of skill sets do you have on your team?
[JB] – QSET consists of almost 25 members.  These members belong to seven different engineering disciplines, commerce, as well as arts and science programs.  I’m sure you can imagine the bulk of our members belong in the first group.  The skill sets that these people bring to the team are quiet diverse.  We have people specializing in robotics, mechanical design, physics, etc.

[SEB] – What are your team’s goals for this year?
[JB] – Our team’s primary goal for this year is to make a run for top spot and make it an enjoyable and educational experience for everyone involved.

Thank you Jonathan.  Also of note is their spiffy new logo – shown at the top of this post.