Derek Deville (Person)
Derek Deville, a senior engineer for a medical products company, received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. For five years Deviller worked for Environmental Aeroscience Corp (eAc) where he directed a number of projects for DARPA and the USAF. At eAc, he also led the team developing and testing of a hybrid propulsion system for the Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne.
Deville designed and built the solid rocket motor for the Civilian Space Exploration Team's GoFast rocket. Launched in May of 2004, GoFast reached an altitude of 72 miles making it the first non-government sponsored vehicle to reach space.
On September 30, 2011, Deville launched Qu8k (pronounced "Quake"), a fourteen-foot tall rocket, in an attempt to claim the Carmack Prize. The eight-inch diameter rocket reached an altitude of approximately 121,000 feet, but failed to secure the prize because the on-board GPS devices failed.
External References
- Derek Deville's Rocketry Web Site
- From Engineer to Rocketman - an article about Derek Deville at MachineDesign.com
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