Sam Bukowski, Emily Daugherty, Chris Lewin, Troy Hayes, Natalie Schaefer, Matt Vaninger November, 2011

Mission Overview  Our Mission is to create an inexpensive space capsule out of common materials that can survive the harsh environments of space.  The three things that we are testing are: Radiation Pressure Temperature

Design Overview e

Design Overview Cont.

Functional Block Diagram

Expected vs. Actual Results ExpectedActual  Aluminum foil and rubber combo- lowest radiation  Uncovered – highest radiation  The vacuum baggy would be pressurized  The camera would take pictures for the whole flight  No radiation was detected  The vacuum baggy did not stay pressurized  The camera stopped working on the descent

Last picture taken 15 minutes before touchdown

Internal Temperature External Temperature Landing Burst Landing Last Picture

Humidity BurstLanding Burst Landing

Flight Recap ● No radiation was detected at 72 thousand feet ● Pressure was not kept ● Pressure sensor took faulty data ● Camera got too cold and shut down 15 min before touchdown

Failure Analysis  The pressure sensor appeared to take faulty data in the middle of the flight  The pressure rises from approximately 20 kPa to 140 kPa in a matter of five seconds and then drops again from approximately 140 kPa to 20 kPa

Failure Analysis Cont.  Cold test: the spikes in pressure correlate with the lowest temperature readings It was inconclusive, the Arduino was unaffected by the cold  Vacuum test: the pressure sensor might have been too affected by low pressure  The failure was repeated by the vacuum test

Vacuum Test

Failure Analysis Cont.  The Radiation stickers were not affected during flight, not even the outside, unexposed, controlled sticker. At 70,000 ft, the approximate radiation is 20 microsieverts per hour. The stickers must either not have been sensitive enough to detect the radiation or was not exposed to the radiation long enough to display a reaction

Conclusions  Pressure – The Vacuum Baggy did not hold pressure, the bag was no longer sealed after landing and the pressure sensor gave faulty data.  Temperature - The insulation we used to test temperature would not be enough to keep a human heated for an extended time period at about 20,000 meters  Radiation - The radiation stickers used did not react to the radiation because it was not exposed to the 20 microsieverts per hour most likely, because it was not exposed for a long enough period of time

Appendix – Lessons Learned  Start early  Don't procrastinate  Test more than you think you need to  Use your time wisely  Do A LOT of research – make sure to get the right hardware

Appendix – Ready to Fly Again  Find a more stable and sufficient pressurized container (most likely a solid container rather than a bag) Pressurize this container with a different Pressure sensor that can measure a pressure of approximately 30 hPa  Find a more sensitive radiation sticker/detector that will be effected over a shorter period of time - the radiation at 70,000 ft is 20 microsieverts/hour

Appendix – Compliance Matrix

Appendix – Mass and Cost Summary

Appendix – Message to Next Semester Make sure that you find a strong experiment and do a lot of research on your experimental components and hardware. Work very hard and it will definitely pay off. Procrastinating is easy, but it can backfire on you very easily. Don’t let the due dates creep up too fast! Most importantly, work together as a team; teamwork is the key to success in this class. This is not an easy class, but it is fun as long as you are willing to put in the effort.