AlphaX - Team 37 - NASA'S L’Space Mission Concept Academy

What is L'Space?

Our team completed a 12-week Academy that was designed to provide unique, hands-on learning and insight into the dynamic world of the space industry. Our team learned NASA mission procedures and protocols from industry professionals for in order us to complete the mission to send a lander to Enceladus. Speaking on the behalf of our team, NASA'S L’Space Mission Concept Academy has been the most rewarding experience in our college careers.

Mission Statement:

Our team was assigned to complete our own Preliminary Design Review about a mission that would send a lander to the icy world of Enceladus. The team conducted a detailed study of Enceladus using The Java Mission-planning and Analysis for Remote Sensing (JMARS) and presented different ideas on a scientific objective.

The team decided that the goal of our mission is to determine the composition of the ocean on Enceladus by analyzing the plume material released at the tiger stripes. The mission will also look for signs of life by determining whether organic molecules are present in the plume material. Evaluating the lander's chassis, the instruments are all going to be contained in a frame that is 51cm x 51cm x 76cm and made out of carbon fiber. One of the primary instruments will be a cone-like mechanism that will be held on top of the lander and will catch any falling ice particles that emit from tiger stripes. The primary instrument will be the MOMA or the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer, which uses a heating element to convert the sample into gas to pass into the mass spectrometer, which will indicate what the compositions are from the ice.

Team Building:

Our team was originally composed of eleven students that we're majoring in a range of studies like engineering, computer science, and biology. Our first tasks were to assemble a role for each member of the team, breaking things down into three categories; the engineering, science, and business department. The engineers would be in charge of creating and modeling the lander using the Siemens NX Software, which was provided by the L'Space program. The science department was in charge of two things, first was coming up with the scientific objective and present a detailed report of Enceladus, while also finding a primary scientific payload for the lander. The business department was inclined of handling the budget, and safety measures while manufacturing and testing the lander.

Doing a quick assessment of each person on the team, allowing everyone to be placed where they're most comfortable, and soon after, the leadership positions we're established for each department. As our final roles, were established, later in our project, a change in our leadership position for the science department caught the team off guard. Due to schedule restraints we had to be understanding and allowed the current leader to step down and appoint another. The science team was able to work as a team and appointed two leaders, instead of one, to divide the workload for the leader position. From the minor setback, all the leaders and team members continued to maintain professionalism and work even harder to complete our final PDR.

Mission Planning:

Meeting with all eleven team members through Zoom (due to COVID-19) was not efficient and so each department was assigned a date for their team members to meet once a week. After that, each lead, along with the project managers, would also meet once a week. The project manager would create an agenda for the lead meetings, going into detail about assignments, PDR work, and due dates. The leads would create a PowerPoint or document, detailing what that department accomplished that week and compare notes with other departments.

Our primary communication application was Discord. This allowed us to connect with one another and to our mentor, without using emails or texting. This allowed all members to connect with one another, to either receive information or documents at a quicker rate.

Gantt Chart

The Gantt chart was the team's primary schedule. This chart was used to assign each member a task to work on the PDR and other smaller assignments. Later on in the project, each leader would create a smaller organizational chart, that was specifically about their sections of the PDR. These documents allowed each lead to write comments on things that needed to be improved or changed, before adding their work to the final PDR.

Choosing a Landing Site:

The goal of the landing site is to collect at least 1 mg of falling plume material to be able to analyze the sample using the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) instrument. To ensure enough material is collected, NASA's Cassini spacecraft's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instrument infrared data is used to find positions that satisfy that requirement. The landing site will also be located in the south polar region to target the tiger stripes to be within the area where plume material falls.

• The red color channel corresponds to a ratio of Enceladus' brightness observed at 3.1 microns divided by its brightness at 1.65 microns
• The green channel corresponds to the brightness at 2.0 microns
• The blue channel corresponds to the brightness at 1.8 microns

This means the red tint color represents fresh crystalline ice that has fallen on the surface. The site selected is shown to fall under the red spectrum which means a 100 g year per year or 1.43 mg per day plume density. Collecting fresh ice from the plume is useful since the Cassini spacecraft was only able to detect lower molecular weight compounds since the higher molecular weight compounds could not make it to space. The collection of the heavier molecular weight molecules will reveal organic signatures and geochemical activity in the ocean. It is believed the plume material comes from the oceans and brings up molecules.

Scientific Goals and Instruments:

Since our goal of the mission is to determine the composition of the ocean on Enceladus by analyzing the plume material released at the tiger stripes, the team needed to ensure that the instruments selected would fit the criteria of the mission. The science instruments that were decided to be onboard the lander are the Mars Organic Molecular Analyzer (MOMA) and the panoramic camera (Mastcam-Z). The MOMA instrument uses a mass spectrometer to detect and characterize molecules to potentially find organic molecules on Enceladus. It will be similar to the version of the instrument onboard the European Space Agency’s Rosalind Franklin rover that analyzes organic compounds. A cone-like attachment will be used to collect falling particles from nearby plumes to be analyzed using the MOMA. This attachment will deploy after the lander reaches the surface and opens up. The Mastcam-Z can image the surroundings in color and also at various wavelengths to identify minerals.

Other internal systems that will be used aboard the lander will primarily be for the EDL procedure. These systems include a terrain relative navigation system, lidar, and a thermal camera to help the lander avoid hazards to find an ideal place to land and begin taking samples.

Lander Designs:

The Lander will be packed with scientific instruments, such as the MOMA, and a panoramic camera. Other parts include a lidar/thermal camera, and a propulsion system that uses hydrazine monopropellant engines to ensure a safe landing. The hydrazine monopropellant thrusters will be purchased from Aerojet Rocketdyne. There will be four MR-106L thrusters facing downward and four MRM 106F Rocket engine modules that will be facing upward and placed on the four sides of the lander. As the lander desperates from the orbiting spacecraft, it will enter the descent phase where the main MR-106L thrusters will begin slowing it down to a velocity magnitude of about 30m/s at 1800m. The main autonomous maneuvering of the lander will begin after it has dropped below the 1800m. The lander will then use the Lidar cameras to avoid objects and maneuver to about 20m from the surface of the planet. At about 20m the magnitude of the velocity will be zero and from there the lander will begin free falling safely onto the plume-filled surface. At this point, the snowshoes will deploy in order to help the lander safely reach the surface of Enceladus.

The instruments are all going to be contained in a frame that is 51cm x 51cm x 76cm and made out of carbon fiber. The lander instruments, computer system, sensors, and other components will be powered by the MMRTG. The Rover Compute Element will be made up of the two RAD750 computers for redundancy. The carbon fiber frame would be designed using a series of trusses warped in a layer of heating foil to keep the lander structurally sound and the instruments in sound working conditions. The total weight of the lander with all the instruments is going to be 76kg.  

Conclusion:

Once landed in the southernmost polar region of Enceladus, the lander will begin the seven-day process of detecting and analyzing the ice particles emitted from the tiger stripe geysers. During the descent, the primary objectives would be to ensure a safe landing, once landed on Enceladus, a series of the components will need to be checked. Beginning with its main computer system, The Rover Compute Element, it will engage the legs or feet of the lander to ensure that the lander is in place at its correct orientation and can stay locked into the surface in response to the rapid shaking of the environment. Assuming that the lander will have interaction with ice particles when entering the Enceladus atmosphere, the system will need to test and evaluate each part to ensure that the lander is working properly. If the report comes back positive, the mission can continue. It will also be maintaining proper temperatures to ensure that the lander does not overheat or freeze. Next, the lander will open up the cone which serves as a catcher, and starts catching falling ice. When reaching a certain weight, the cone will drop the ice into the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA). The MOMA will heat up the ice samples using an ultraviolet laser. It will break up the sample into large organic molecules that can be broken down by oven heating. Once in the gas phase, it will be analyzed and differential by its organic makeup. With respect to the findings, the team would hopefully answer which specific organic molecules reside inside Enceladus.

When planning the seven-day mission, most of the testing will be done during the day cycle, ensuring the team will have the most visible light to work under. Enceladus is about a billion miles away from the sun, which means it only receives 1% of the sunlight Earth receives from the sun. Unlike many moons around Saturn, the icy surface makes the moon very reflective. Since much of the sunlight being reached is reflecting, the surface temperature will be very cold. Also to consider, much visible light will be faint, especially being in the south pole. Further testing must be conducted, so that all pictures that are taken, will be visible in dim light.

If any of the findings can determine what specific organic molecules are in the plumes, then the team can determine if they are considered biosignatures, or evidence of past or present life. This will be critical when using the Mastcam-Z camera since it can capture detailed pictures of how active the plumes are, and how large the minerals are forming when emitting from the geysers. Using the Radioisotope Power System, the wattage intake should be more than enough to withstand any high powered testing for the seven day period. A low gain antenna mounted on the top surface of the lander will be transmitting all data received from the (MOMA). Since the mission is looking for water ice emitting from the geysers, the landing site, is in an area that has low mountain or valley terrain, but sustains high amounts of water around it. The lender will need to look for heavier objects that could potentially damage the rover, by ensuring that all parts that are could be potentially exposed, and replaced back into their holding areas inside the lander. Landing near the tiger stripes in the fissure below shows how to catch any of the heavier materials that cannot escape Enceladus' atmosphere should fall near the lander at a rate where we can meet the daily scientific objectives of samples.

Schedule

As the team continues on the CDR (Critical Design Review), it will follow the next phases, which is Development (phase D); since the previous phases of Preliminary Analysis (Phase A), Definition (Phase B), and the Design (Phase C) have already been completed. Next, the team will be going through the Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations, which essentially finalizes the final build and testing of the lander, and reviews all launch operations before liftoff for Enceladus. This goes into (phase E) Operations and the lander will execute the desired tasks to complete the seven-day mission. A year before arrival, the team will formulate Community Outreach Partnerships with local outreach organizations such as the Society of Hispanic Professionals Engineers (SHPE), and high schools, to reach a more public audience about the mission. In this effort, it will encourage young adults to engage in STEM, and increase awareness of NASA operations. 

We Are Team AlphaX:

Joshua McCall (California Lutheran University): Majoring in Computer Science, Joshua is the Project Manager for this mission. Having a robust background in management, team building, and teaching, Joshua manages each department to ensure that all required tasks are done efficiently and effectively. With skills ranging from C++, JAVA, and Raspberry Pi, Joshua is assigned to the science department doing critical research on the environment of Enceladus. 

Jeimy Portillo (Pasadena City College, Pasadena): Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Jeimy is the Deputy Project Manager. Having a strong background in management and team building, Jeimy coordinates assignments with the project manager and also serves as an engineer for designing the lander. With skills ranging from C++, Python, and SolidWorks, Jeimy ensures that the lander will perform all desired tasks required from the scientific payload.   

Alfonso Mares (California State University, Los Angeles): Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Alfonso is the lead for the engineering department. He is the co-founder of the rocketry club on his campus, where he leads the structural design, aerodynamics and recovery system on the space launch vehicle. Skills ranging from python, SolidWorks, and ANSYS, Alfonso coordinates any multiphysics engineering simulations needed for the lander to maintain a full operation during the mission. 

Avo Arabetyan (Pasadena City College, Pasadena): Majoring in Computer Science, Avo is the lead for the business department. Being passionate about communication and coding, Avo is coordinating with the business team the finances, outreach, and lab safety in order to ensure a successful launch.  

Supreethi Penmetcha (University of California, Los Angeles): Majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Supreethi is the co-lead for the science department. Specializing in coordinating the mission trajectory plan and entry, descent, and landing (EDL) procedures, Supreethi ensured that the lander will enter the Enceladus atmosphere and land in the correct orientation.          

Nhi Pham (Cypress College, Cypress): Majoring in Environmental Engineering, Nhi is one of the co-designers for the Enceladus Lander. With a strong background in engineering, Matlab, and Raspberry Pi, Nhi used NX to model how the lander will withstand the harsh polar regions on Enceladus.   

Andres Castillo (California State University, Northridge): Majoring in Electrical Engineering, Andres is in the business department, specializing in logistics. With a strong background in computer systems, Andres determines the total cost of all accumulated parts and ensures the balancing of the total budget.  

Gardenee Lopez (Pasadena City College, Pasadena): Majoring in Biology, Gardenee the planetary scientist. Specializing in studying Earth’s many sediments and any chemical reactions within its seafloor. Furthermore, assisting with any instruments that can detect, among other things, the distinct chemical signatures of the production of methane.

Mohamed Tawfik (California State University, Northridge): Majoring in Electrical Engineering, Mohamed is the nuclear manufacturer leader. Working with the engineering team, Mohamed designs efficient power sources and instrumentation placements for the lander.   

Jonathan Yan (Pasadena City College, Pasadena): Majoring in Aerospace Engineering, Jonathan is the co-lead for the science department. Jonathan is the environmental researcher, physics consultant for landing and descent. Furthermore, Jonathan worked on deciding on a mission objective and choosing scientific instruments.