Future Space Mission Design

INSTITUTION

Arizona State University – Tempe

CLASS

Nickel Class (2020 – 2021)

STUDENT TEAM

Eli Haddad, Electrical Engineering
Maurice Issa, Electrical Engineering
Preetinderpal Singh, Mechanical Engineering
Molly Stevens, Mechanical Engineering

ACADEMIC GUIDANCE

Prof. Bogdan Kozul, Assistant Professor of Practice, Mechanical Engineering, Cleveland State University

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This capstone team had to think like a mission team and propose a follow-on mission for NASA’s Psyche Mission! This follow-on mission was built on the intended science results of the original Psyche Mission. The follow-on design is open-ended in terms of spacecraft and mission design and assumed a launch date in the 2030’s. The team developed the spacecraft design and mission plan for a potential follow-on mission to the same (or similar) asteroid. Making assumptions about what will be found during the current Psyche mission, the proposed second mission should expand on the science (and do new science) on their return trip to the asteroid. Options included operations ranging from orbiting the asteroid, landing on the asteroid, a sample return from the asteroid, etc., and this decision will be part of the trade studies that were conducted by the team.

This work was created in partial fulfillment of Arizona State University Capstone Courses. The work is a result of the Psyche Student Collaborations component of NASA’s Psyche Mission (https://psyche.asu.edu). “Psyche: A Journey to a Metal World” [Contract number NNM16AA09C] is part of the NASA Discovery Program mission to solar system targets. Trade names and trademarks of ASU and NASA are used in this work for identification only. Their usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by Arizona State University or National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of ASU or NASA.