NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars

Lunar Mission Design

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After completing mission #1 of the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars program (NCAS) program in Fall 2021, I was invited back to mission #2 in February of 2022. I was put on a team of 11 fellow students and one NASA mentor, all with different majors, different backgrounds, and different levels of experience. We were given one week to design a human exploration mission to the Moon. We named our mission Polaris.

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Mission Purpose:

• Science Goal - Characterize composition of lunar regolith & search for volatiles

• Secondary Objective - Establish ISRU and human exploration/habitation technologies on the lunar surface to accelerate future missions to Mars

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My Roles on the Team:

• Creative Design Specialist

• Researcher

• Technical Writer

• Presenter

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Team Accomplishments:

• Articulated the science goals of the mission

• Selected rockets, science & mobility instruments, computer and communication systems, and power and EDL equipment that would achieve our science goals without exceeding payload and budget constraints​

• Selected lunar landing site and date based on scientific potential as well as mission safety

• Outlined the schedule and timeline of our mission from conception and design, to safe return to Earth

• Designed an outreach program to engage and inspire the public with our mission and its purpose

• Designed an official mission patch

• Presented our mission to a panel of NASA judges

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Skills Learned:

• TECHNICAL

  • Research

  • Technical writing

  • Mission design

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• SOFTWARE

  • Affinity Design

  • Microsoft PowerPoint

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• TEAMWORK

  • Listening

  • Delegation

  • Communication

  • Organization

 

Mentor: Trey Rupp, Electrical Engineer at Glenn Research Center

Collaborators: Jenna Klaskin, Samuel Mutch, Stefan Henrick, Roxanna Ramirez, Britney Monsalvo, Myrafora Jatho, Armando Gonzalez, Dylan Lapham, Justin Shin, Jeanette Gallegos