Sampling System for Hypothesized Surfaces: Seattle University

INSTITUTION

Seattle University

CLASS

Nickel Class (2020 – 2021)

STUDENT TEAM

Cameron Aest
Logan Kamla
Luke Ogoshi
Brandon Vongpitunmanachai

ACADEMIC GUIDANCE

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The NASA Psyche Mission is set to launch in 2022 and arrive at the asteroid in 2026. It is an orbiter mission and will not land on the surface. It is possible to imagine, however, that after learning about Psyche from orbit, there may be scientists and engineers interested in proposing a subsequent mission to actually land on the asteroid and sample its surface. Designing to the range of hypothesized surfaces that might be found at Psyche (and keeping in mind other constraints such as its gravity), the team designed a sampling system capable of effectively extracting scientific samples from each of the hypothesized surfaces and, potentially, a single caching system able to cache each type. Hypothesized surfaces may include: mostly flat metallic surface, flat metallic with metal and/or rocky debris, rough/high-relief metallic and/or rocky terrain, high-relieve metallic crater walls. Specifications will be provided for the team to inform the design.