Capstone Design Project: Design of an Interplanetary CubeSat Mission

Introduction

The capstone project is a semester long project that is typically completed during the final year of the Bachelor's degree and focuses on a team-based design project. The capstone project I worked on was focused on the design of an interplanetary CubeSat mission to Titan, a moon in the Saturn system.

The Titan Infrared Camera (TITAN-IC) mission was design in response to a NASA RFP calling for up to 12U CubeSats to perform SIMPLEx missions. The objective of this hypothetical mission was to enable more in depth studies of cryovolcanic activity on Titan's surface by performing imaging of at least 80% of Titan's surface at a resolution representing at least an order of magnitude improvement over existing images. The primary scientific payload aboard the spacecraft was a SWIR imaging system paired with an appropriate lens to peer through Titan's atmosphere and image its surface. This project involved the end-to-end design of the CubeSat's mission including identifying scientific objectives to be completed as a part of the mission, spacecraft design, trajectory design, and other cost and planning elements.

My Contribution

• Participated in mission design including investigating different possible destinations and identifying gaps in existing scientific knowledge related to possible destinations. Conducted literature reviews of past missions to Titan to understand what science had been completed, identify gaps in scientific knowledge, and propose realistic opportunities to conduct science or collect data.
• Designed the primary scientific payload of the mission based on the selected destination. Used conclusions from the literature review to inform the final design of the scientific payload using a combination of COTS and custom components.
• Performed CAD work to meet volumetric constraints of 12U CubeSat form factor. Used SolidWorks to design the CubeSat and package onboard systems to conform to the volume restrictions.

Model of TITAN-IC CubeSat in its Fully Deployed Configuration

TITAN-IC Mission CONOPS