Sample Return from Hypothesized Surfaces – Whaler’s of the Moon

INSTITUTION

Oregon State University (OSU)

CLASS

Iridium Class (2024 – 2025)

STUDENT TEAM

ACADEMIC GUIDANCE

Dr. Pete Swan
Dr. Anthony Nix
Matthew Miller
Ryan Sutherland

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Our project was to design, simulate, and prototype a space elevator system to transport pre-cached samples from the surface of Psyche to an orbiter. Our scope consisted of three primary systems, which included an orbital trajectories analysis, tether climber design and testing, and lastly an FEA analysis of tether materials.

 

 

This work was created in partial fulfillment of the Oregon State University Capstone Course “MIME 497”. The work is a result of the Psyche Student Collaborations component of NASA’s Psyche Mission (https://psyche.ssl.berkeley.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.