Team 501
Team 501 has designed a spacecraft landing system capable of landing on the hypothesized surfaces of the Psyche asteroid, an M-Type asteroid likely largely made of metal. Scientists believe that Psyche may be remnant core material from a planetesimal. Launching in 2022 and arriving in 2026, an orbiter will get a closer look at Psyche and gather information. Scientists are hopeful that this asteroid could provide useful information about the formation of the solar system and the cores of rocky planets like Earth. Potential motivation from the findings could result in future mission teams proposing to land a spacecraft on Psyche. Currently, the surface of the asteroid is unknown but thought to be uneven, with a mix of rock and metal, unlike other solar system bodies visited before.
The proposed landing attachment will be able to land a spacecraft on the asteroid’s different hypothesized surfaces. The selected design uses three legs to support the spacecraft. Each leg features a shock absorber to take the impact force of landing. The shock absorber is a piston-like assembly with an aluminum honeycomb-filled cylinder that deforms on impact. To stabilize the spacecraft, each leg adjusts its height independently for a leveled position. At the bottom of the leg is a pin screen foot, modeled after the popular children’s toy. The pin screen toy is known for being able to form to the shape of any three-dimensional relief it is placed on. Displayed on the pin screen is the relief’s shape with pins. Consisting of closely packed metal pins that slide back and forth in slots, the pin screen feet form to the uneven terrain of Psyche. The pins prevent the feet from slipping on the terrain as well. Team 501’s design achieves the goal to create a landing system that can successfully land a spacecraft on Psyche’s range of hypothesized surfaces.
The photo to the left is the CAD model of our landing system design.
The photo to the right shows one of the landing feet on top of uneven rocks. This foot design uses a pinscreen as to form to the shape of the rocks. The feet will be attached to the bottom of the legs. It also features a U-Joint to allow for limited tilting of the foot.
Our design uses linear actuators combined with sensors to adjust the legs of the lander. The legs will be adjusted according to the terrain to keep the spacecraft level.
Located within the double A-arm suspension will be an piston like damper. Inside the piston will be alumnium crushable honeycomb material that crushes on impact, damping impact.
Our design uses the popular children's toy, the pinscreen, to form to the rough, uneven terrain of psyche. The pinscreens absorb some impact energy and grip onto the landing surface.
The prototype for the scope our capstone project has been completed. If given the oppurtunity to work on the project further, this is what would need to be done.
Different sensors with a wider range of sensing would be researched and looked into. This would be compared with what they may need on Psyche.
Our current test rig only has one terrain with 3 different heights. Ideally we would have multiple differnet height variations so that the legs could adjust accordingly.
To utilize the crushable honeycomb dampers as planned, further testing would be done to determine the damping coeffcients of aluminum honeycomb panels. This would be related to the current gas shock absorbers on the prototype.
Our current model would eventually be transferred into spacegrade materials and components specked for Psyche's terrain.
