ENG 450: Potential Projects Nilton O. Renno, Professor Manish Mehta, Graduate Student University of Michigan

Today’s Goals To give a brief overview of potential ENG 450 projects. To give a tour Renno’s laboratory and the SPRL machine shop. To expose you to some previous ENG 450 projects. To answer questions regarding the organization of the course.

Students’ Tasks To pick your favorite project(s). To form project teams. To come to next class prepared to choose a project and join a team. To ask a team member to get in touch with Prof. Renno for more information about your project.

Phoenix Mars Lander NASA’s 2007 Mission to Mars

Project #1: Phoenix Thruster Simulator INDUSTRIAL PARTNER Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Littlefield, CO OBJECTIVES To design, fabricate and test a laboratory simulator to study the effects of the Phoenix Lander thruster system on the surface of Mars. The simulator will be used to study the effects of supersonic jets from multiple thrusters on the Martian soil, and to quantify the amount of soil lifted during landing. The experiments will be conducted at UM and the Mars Wind Tunnel at NASA’s Ames Research Center.

Entry (E)

Descent (D)

Landing (L)

The EDL Challenges

Phoenix at Mars

Phoenix Touchdown

Project # 2: Phoenix Sample Delivery Experiment

Phoenix Sample Delivery Experiment INDUSTRIAL PARTNER NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory OBJECTIVES To design, fabricate and test a laboratory apparatus to calibrate the Phoenix wind sensor and study the effects of wind on sample delivery. To determine the feasibility of using a wind sensor during operations to decide when to deliver soil samples to the instruments. The experiments will be conducted at the University of Michigan Mars chamber.

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) NASA’s 2009 Mission to Mars

Project # 3: MSL Thruster Simulator INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory OBJECTIVES To design and fabricate a laboratory simulator to study the effects of thruster of NASA’s 2009 mission to Mars (MSL) on the surface of Mars. The simulator will be used to study the effects of the thrusters’ supersonic jets on the Martian soil and of lifted dust on the lander and its instruments.

MSL’s Sky Crane Landing System

Project # 4: MSL’s Atmospheric Structure Experiment

MSL’s Atmospheric Structure Experiment INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Astrobiology Institute (Madrid, Spain) OBJECTIVES To study the accelerations that a spacecraft with active controls is subject during entry and descent in the martian atmosphere. To design, fabricate and test a laboratory apparatus to study the torques exerted by the atmosphere and thrusters on the spacecraft. To determine the requirements for the determination of the atmospheric density profile during entry and descent.

Project # 5: Mars Balloon Mission

Mars Balloon Mission INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/The Aerospace Corporation/Cameron Balloons OBJECTIVES To study the effects of the Martian environment on balloons of various materials. The determined the best strategy for a mission whose objective is to collect aerosol particles between altitudes ranging from 5 to 15 km.

Project # 6: Lunar Base

Lunar Base INDUSTRIAL PARTNER NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/The Aerospace Corporation OBJECTIVES To design, fabricate, and test a subsystem from a lunar base that could provide life support to four crewmembers for six months without re-supply.

Project # 7: TSATT Imaging System

TSATT Imaging System INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Student Space Systems Fabrication Laboratory (S3FL) OBJECTIVE UM and Penn State are developing a pair of tethered nanosatellites to test an innovative method to evaluate rendezvous and formation flying sensor technologies, tether system technologies for distributed spacecraft control and propulsion, and several other technologies. The goal of ENG 450 team is to design and test the imaging systems for this satellite in collaboration with NASA/JPL and S3FL.

Project # 8: Responsive Space Testbed INDUSTRIAL PARTNER Advanced Technology Center (ATC), Lockheed Martin Corporation The ENG 450 team will work with ATC engineers on the simulation of processes for rapid design, fabrication, integration, and testing of satellite systems based on the use of emerging technologies.

THANKS!