Spaceworks Level 1
Circuitry and Parachutes
This course served to give real-world exprience by assigning students into groups based on their individual skills such that they complemented one another nicely. These groups worked together to create a miniature (1x1x1ft) lander.
Mission Objectives
We were given the goal of making a lander that must meet the following requirements:
- Eject a parachute to safely land a fifty-foot drop
- Deploy a payload exactly five seconds after touchdown
- Land directly in the middle of a target (directly below the drop position)
- Maintain a budget under $100
The video below shows one of the drop tests we perfomed to find any deficiencies in the lander design.
The lander succeeded in most of it's objectives, but did not land in the middle of the target.
We found that incorpating any designs to manipulate the chassis aerodynamics would result in a tangled,
ineffective parachute. So the goal of landing on the target was largely ignored when we created the lander.
Below is more information on the other objectives completed:
- Parachute ejected via self-actuacted, spring-loaded mechanism triggered with a 9g servo. Resulting in a safe landing
- Payload deployed on time via another 9g servo release
- A budget of $70 was used
Personal Responsibilities
For this project, I was responsible for designing the payload deployment system and improved the parachute design to a reliable state. I also aided in designing and fabricating the lander chassis, which went through three iterations of testing and improvements.
Team Members
This project was completed by Zachary Norris, Kateri Rosedale, Lyra Gordon, and myself with assistance from Spaceworks staff.