1. The Principles of Space Instrument Design Lauren Shea Based on research completed at MSSL Alton Convent School

2. Mullard Space Science Laboratory During February half-term I went to Mullard Space Science Laboratory for work- experience.

3. Understanding the Process of Designing Spacecraft Our aim today is: to understand how complex the process of spacecraft design is and to be able to name a few conditions in space that could be harmful to the spacecraft.

4. Requirements When designing a spacecraft there are initial requirements that need to be considered: Achieve mission with payload and/or passengers. Be easily and economically produced and maintained. Be reusable and have as few stages as possible to reduce cost and recover expensive materials. Pass all engineering and flight tests. BE COST EFFECTIVE.

5. Thought Process From ‘Principles of Space Instrument Design’ by A.M Cruise, J.A Bowles, T.J Patrick and C.V Goodall

6. What is a Spacecraft to you?

7. What is a Spacecraft? A spacecraft is designed to travel in space and may be launched from Earth by a launch vehicle. It may carry a payload to accomplish a mission with or without people and return to Earth. The Millennium Falcon The Starship Enterprise The Death Star

8. The Design Process Mission Purpose What is the purpose of the mission? What is the payload, how big is it? Once these, and many more requirements are decided, a study is done to determine whether the mission performance requirement can be met. Design The nature of the payload and its special needs, help determine the design (shape, size…). If people are going, other requirements, such as seating capacity are needed. The spacecraft must provide for all of the support systems, such as communications, electrical systems and life support. Analyses NASA engineers must determine the craft's general operation before launch and upon its return. They must analyse the aerodynamic characteristics of the configuration, as well as monitor structural stress, effects of high speed, heat tolerances and the course it flies to space and back. Engineers must consider new materials that could minimize cost and weight. Testing Once the spacecraft has been designed, it must be certified for flight through a series of performance, vibration and thermal tests. Engineers build and test individual components. After initial testing, parts of the spacecraft that don’t meet performance requirements are redesigned and retested. Fabrication Once a final design passes initial tests, a full-scale model is fabricated in fibre glass or other inexpensive materials. Then, an actual prototype, called the flight model, may be built and then tested to assure the quality of design. If it passes many hours of tests including a series of experimental flight tests, it is ready for production and operation.

9. What do you know about the conditions in space?

10. Adaptations As we know, the conditions in space are different from those on Earth. Solar Orbiter facing the sun, showing the extreme scale of temperatures in space. The LaunchRadiationTemperatures Meteor Showers

11. Your Challenge: Your task : to design a spacecraft, which you believe would survive a mission in space. You will be given an information pack and A3 sheets of paper. In your team you must draw and annotate your idea- your team name should be written at the top of each page you work on. You need to work together as a team. The decisions made need to be accepted by all team members. Please ask for help at any point in the lesson and any questions are welcome. Don’t be afraid to use colour or try abstract ideas on your spacecraft! BE CREATIVE!

12. The Criteria: It must: - travel quickly through the air - withstand a variety of temperatures. - be protected from radiation. - be tough enough to endure meteor showers or small particles travelling at extreme speeds. - be as lightweight as possible.

13. Mark Scheme CategoriesPoints Imagination/Creativity /30 Teamwork /20 Presentation /50 TOTAL /100

14. What have you learnt?

15. What could you improve?

16. Extension ‘Science Goals’ These are questions or theories that you want to answer by completing a mission and collecting data. For example, sending the Curiosity Rover to Mars- a science goal was to determine whether Mars could or could not support life. With the spacecraft you have designed, choose a planet to investigate and set three Science goals you would like answered.

17. The Planets Use your information pack to research the planets individually and decide which one you want to explore. Then determine what your Science Goals are.