Alex Hanna

About me

My name is Alex Hanna and I am an Aerospace Engineer. I graduated with an M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University in Dec 2024, and a B.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University in December 2023 with minors in Computer Science, Economics, and Mathematics. This website is meant to highlight some of the cool projects I have worked on. (Last Updated Dec 2024)

Dragonfly V2

About

The second iteration of the Dragonfly is an autonomous glider designed for the NASA Balloon Program Office. It was completed and delivered to NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, TX in June 2024. It will prospectively be launched in Antarctica in Jan 2025.
Click here for a link to the full project page.

Design Specs

Weight: 9.5 kg
Length: 120 cm
Wing Span: 100 cm
Wing Chord: 10 cm
Wing Airfoil: Clark Y
Tail Span: 15 cm
Tail Chord: 5 cm
Tail Airfoil: NACA 0014

Dragonfly V1

About

DRAGONfly is an autonomous glider designed to deliver a data vault from high altitude weather balloons to ground stations. This vehicle was designed for the NASA Balloon Program Office as a part of the FLOATing DRAGON competition beginning in August 2022. After submitting a conceptual design in January 2023, the DRAGONfly was selected as one of the six finalist vehicles to be built for a test flight in August 2023.
Click here for a link to the full project page.

Design Specs

Weight: 9.5 kg
Length: 120 cm
Wing Span: 140 cm
Wing Chord: 20.5 cm
Wing Airfoil: Clark Y
Tail Span: 60 cm
Tail Chord: 20 cm
Tail Airfoil: NACA 0012

Senior Design

About

This project was completed as part of the AAE418 class. The purpose was to design an autonomous method of last-mile delivery. Given numerous technical specifications, myself and my team designed, built, and tested our vehicle.

Design Specs

Weight: 15.4 lbs
Length: 6.69 ft
Wing Span: 11 ft
Wing Chord: 19 in
Wing Airfoil: NACA 7412
Tail Span: 4.5 ft
Tail Chord: 17.75 in
Tail Airfoil: NACA 0012