"Argo" Winning Satellite Design
The Objective
“Your assignment is to envision a multi-purpose space tug designed to operate in Earth orbit and cislunar space by defining its service requirements, markets to be served, and technical capabilities, together with an estimation of deployment and operating costs.”
Personal Achievements
- Worked heavily on 52-page Concept of Operations by compiling teammates individual work and populating report with CAD renders
- Helped with calculations and reasoning/justification for the technologies chosen
- Did heavy spacecraft structural and orbital mechanics research
- Designed the structural shielding for the vehicle
- CADed most of the assembly
The Outcome
Our team won first place in the competition with our novel design of Argo, a space tug capable of making multiple trips between Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Low Lunar Orbit (LLO) while carrying upwards of 34 metric tons of cargo. The craft is designed to be able to deliver satellites to geostationary or lunar orbits with an estimated mission time of 45 to 95 days. Argo is also configured to perform station-keeping tasks, repositioning of satellites, and even heavy cargo hauling to Mars. The space tug has a lifespan of about 7 years of continuous operation with the option to be retrofitted if new technologies made recovery or continuous maintenance possible in the future. Our team was able to accept our award during the Students for Exploration and Development of Space’s (SEDS) annual Spacevision conference held in San Diego, CA.
Renders!
