How to Design A Space Mission And Make It Successful

by Carson
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Sometimes, you might want to design a space mission, either if you’re working in a space agency or for storytelling. (Note: In both cases, it usually requires teamwork). So, here are some tips to make up an imaginative spacecraft and help it succeed. Let’s start.

Define Your Objectives

Firstly, you have to define the objectives. If it’s a space agency, it’s probably available at the time of the design. However, if you’re doing this for storytelling, or if you have to determine the mission’s science objectives, you have to do a bit of research.

Is this a sample-return mission? Is it a weather satellite? Is it a probe designed to study the atmosphere? Does it help human exploration? Are there any things that are missing from all the previous spacecrafts? Think about these questions, and you’ll get the main idea.

Still don’t know what you should do? Let’s review some examples. For instance, one of the Perseverance rover’s main objectives is to seek signs of ancient life. It also prepares for future human missions and is the first leg of a sample-return mission. Therefore, it is one of the most ambitious missions ever conducted by NASA.

Or, if you want to go to space just because you want to go to space, it’s probably a technological demonstration. In that case, you have to design something that has never been sent to space before, which requires even more research and creativity.

What Instruments Do You Need?

Take InSight for an example. Its purpose is to explore the interior of the red planet, so it carries 3 instruments:

  • SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure)
  • HP3 (Heat flow and Physical Properties Probe)
  • RISE (Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment)

What if it’s an orbiter designed to study the compositions of the target’s surface? Well, it needs a spectrometer to determine what particles are in sight. If we have to investigate the composition even further, it would be better to land on that planet and collect a sample for examination.

Obviously, every spacecraft needs at least one antenna to transmit data. Almost every space probe needs cameras to record what they see. These should be accompanied with every space mission, especially for the communication tools.

What About the Power?

No matter how great is your design for the space mission, it’s useless without power. Thus, it needs a power source.

There are two types of power sources in space probes: Solar panels and RTGs (Radioisotope Thermal Generators). Which would you choose? It predominantly depends on its distance to the Sun. If its target is closer to the Sun than Jupiter is, it’s appropriate to use solar panels since they can soak up more sunlight. However, if the target is the outer planets, it’s more reasonable to use nuclear power generated by an RTG.

Nevertheless, there is one exception: The surface of Mars. Even though Mars is relatively close to our star, modern Mars rovers use RTGs for power. One of the main reasons for this exception is the global dust storms on the red planet’s surface. They block a significant amount of sunlight for a very long time, making the spacecraft struggle to survive. Meanwhile, the dust particles can only jam parts on newer rovers, but they don’t affect the power supply.

Make A First Draft

After collecting all the instruments and considered the power source, try to make a first draft. You should brainstorm what the spacecraft will look like? Will it be a cube with solar panels and all the instruments and antennas poking out? Or will it land on the target? If so, you have to carry parachutes, aeroshells, or rockets, depending on your destination.

Things are very different between landers and orbiters
Image Credit: NASA/JPL Eyes, Canva

Draw out the first draft and discuss it with your team members. They will certainly recommend some improvements, so remember to edit the design if applicable.

The Launch Vehicle

Then, think of the physical properties of the space probe. Try to measure the mass of each instrument and the central computer, and all the protections. Moreover, try to determine how large the spacecraft is in the smallest state (e.g., with their solar panels folded and instruments undeployed).

Is the probe too large to be made? If so, the spacecraft has to either use lighter materials or remove the instruments it doesn’t need. Is there a launch vehicle that can launch the probe? If not, the probe needs to modify its size and mass, or a new rocket model needs to be designed because of this spacecraft. If the capsule is too large, even if it’s in the smallest size, you may have to shrink the central computer to reduce the volume of the space probe.

Testing, Testing, Testing

Every spacecraft component and instrument needs to be tested before they can be sent to the target. The unexpected always happens. For example, the hardware and software may not be compatible, or the environment is too harsh for the onboard instruments to work.

Therefore, engineers work hard to simulate the conditions they will encounter when conducting the missions. For instance, the Ingenuity Mars helicopter, which is on the belly of the Perseverance rover, has undergone some very rigorous tests on Mars-like environments on Earth, as mentioned in this video from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Plan Your Route

When you design a space mission, you also need to consider how it will get there. If the target is Earth’s orbit, the rocket needs to achieve the orbital velocity. However, if you want to go to anywhere else, it has to escape Earth’s orbit. Therefore, the rocket needs to be more powerful. If so, you might want to consider other models if the current one isn’t strong enough.

If the target is Venus or Mars, it is close enough that it doesn’t require gravity assists. However, if you want to visit the outer planets, you might need some gravity assists along the way. For instance, if your space probe wants to go to Saturn, it may have to fly by Venus, Earth, Mars, or Jupiter en route.

Next, we have to consider the launch window. Can we launch to another planet at any time? No! If the rocket launches at the wrong moment, it will waste time, money, and fuel.

Therefore, a spacecraft needs to launch at an opportunistic time to reach another planet safely. These are the times when Earth and the target is in a position that it can reach the target in a transfer orbit. This is very direct when it doesn’t require gravity assists, while it’s much more complicated when involving 3 or more planets.

Conclusion

After years of hard work, the space mission has been built and launched. However, you and your team members should do all you can to test the spacecraft and find a launch window to get it off the ground.

If you’re writing a story about space, the procedures are different: You don’t need the physical copy. You only have to embed your idea in the story. Keep in mind that the mission can go wild to make the story more captivating.

References and Credits

  1. (n.d.). Objectives – NASA Mars. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/science/objectives/
  2. (n.d.). Experience Insight. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://eyes.jpl.nasa.gov/apps/experience-insight/InSight.html
  3. (n.d.). Radio Science Experiment | Instruments – NASA’s InSight Mars Lander. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/spacecraft/instruments/rise/
  4. (n.d.). Mars Relay Network. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/mrn/
  5. (n.d.). Mars 2020 Entry Descent Landing. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/mars2020/
  6. (n.d.). Experience Insight. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://eyes.jpl.nasa.gov/apps/experience-insight/InSight.html

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