Hypothesized Surface: Landing System for Hypothesized Surfaces – OSU-A

INSTITUTION

Oregon State University

CLASS

Silver Class (2022 – 2023)

STUDENT TEAM

Braydon Price, Mechanical Engineering

Tanner Nossaman, Mechanical Engineering

Nicholas Johnson, Mechanical Engineering

Tristan Jackson, Mechanical Engineering

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL GUIDANCE

Scott Campbell, Instructor, Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering (MIME), OSU
Dr. Megumi Kawasaki, Associate Professor of Materials Science, Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering (MIME), OSU

ACADEMIC GUIDANCE

Dr. Sarah Oman, Assistant Professor of Teaching for the School of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering (MIME), OSU

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This project designed a purposeful deforming landing leg foot which would have a special material attached to the bottom to stick to the asteroid surface. The leg itself would then be damped by a spring to reduce the impact further to fully eliminate any bouncing to launch the craft from the desired landing location. The lander will have a three-strut design on each leg when it touches down on the asteroid for the first time. These struts will have limited degrees of freedom in each direction allowing the leg to self correct for the uneven surface of (16) Psyche. Within the main strut will be the spring dampening system. The purpose of the spring system is to take in most of the initial force of the impact.

Image of a table with a capstone poster and 3D printed prototypes for a landing system.

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.