Capstone Projects

Capstone courses are culminating, project-based courses undertaken by university students in the final (senior) year of university.

A strength of capstone courses is that they involve students in applying their knowledge and skills to real-world projects. The Psyche mission is developing Psyche-focused projects for capstone courses across a range of disciplines. Watch the video below to learn more about the opportunities the Psyche Mission’s capstone projects have to offer.

Capstone Projects

Psyche capstone projects are available for teams at colleges and universities across the country. Interested in joining us? Fill out our form below!

Nickel Class (2020-2021)

• 3-D Asteroid Viewer
• Activity Planning Software Tool (ASU, Penn State)
• Communications Campaign
• Creativity Competition
• Future Space Mission Design
• Hall Thruster Database
• Hall Thruster Plume Data Analysis (VCU, ASU, Penn State)
• Hall Thruster Swirl Torque Measurements
• Interdisciplinary Capstone Marketplace (Fall 2020, Spring 2021)
• Landing System for Uncertain Terrain (ASU – Poly, RIT – Blue, RIT – Red, Michigan Tech)
• Launch Lead-Up Analysis
• Meteorite Database
• Planetary Geologic Mapping of a Hypothesized Surface (ASU – Computer Science, ASU – SESE, Penn State)
• Public Relations Lab (Team A, Team B)
• Psyche Publication Repository
• Returning Samples of Hypothesized Surfaces (Michigan Tech, FAMU-FSU End-Effector, FAMU-FSU Storage)
• Robotic Explorer for Hypothesized Surfaces (NAU, ASU, Michigan Tech, Penn State, FSU- Panama, MSU-1, MSU-2)
• Sampling System for Hypothesized Surfaces (Michigan Tech, Seattle University, Penn State, MSU-1, MSU-2)
• Visualizing Mission Teams and Technologies (Pennsylvania State University, ASU – Tempe, ASU – Poly)
• Web-Based Game (A, B, C, Jump to Psyche, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N)
• Web-Scraping for Publications
• WebXR for Public Engagement (A, B, C, D, E)

View a list of 2020-2021 participants (coming soon)

Cobalt Class (2019-2020)

Cobalt Class capstone projects
Cobalt Class participants and universities

Iron Class (2018-2019)

Iron Class capstone projects
Iron Class participants and universities

Titanium Class (2017-2018)

Titanium Class capstone projects
Titanium Class participants

Psyche Capstone Resources

Read about our approach to interdisciplinary capstone projects:

Coordinating Opportunistic Interdisciplinary Projects Across Single-Discipline Capstone Courses (Capstone Design Conference, June 2018)

Preparing Students to Work in Diverse Settings and Across Distance: Inter-University, Interdisciplinary Capstone Teams (Undergraduate Research Programs Conference, June 2019)

Two Universities, Two Disciplines, One Project: Perspectives of a Project Manager and an Engineer (Psyche blog, July 31, 2019)

Future Capstone Projects

Additional Psyche-focused capstone projects that may be undertaken by any interested university capstone course are in development. If you are a university capstone course instructor or administrator (or future capstone student) and would like more information, please fill out our interest form: