Landing System for Hypothesized Surfaces – UWP “Multi-tool” Design

INSTITUTION

University of Wisconsin – Platteville (UWP)

CLASS

Platinum Class (2025 – 2026)

STUDENT TEAM

ACADEMIC GUIDANCE

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The finalized design selected is called the “Multi-Tool” design, due to its legs having multifunctionality. It uses a rotating mechanism in the center of each leg to swap between a honeycomb crush landing section and wheels to traverse the surface. This combines the landing system and rover into one vehicle. This combination also provides a method to escape any major crevices on the surface. The used crush structures when rotated out of the way also create a safe zone if the rover flips.

This work was created in partial fulfillment of the University of Wisconsin – Platteville Capstone Course “ME 4930.” 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.