Project SWARM

[Dyna-Soar]

This semester, I took part in an Integrated Product Team as my final senior design class. The purpose of the class was to design a space mission accomplishing some sort of goal. In the case of this particular class, the mission was to design a spacecraft for the purpose of space debris removal.

My team chose to go with mostly off-the-shelf hardware, most of it re-purposed from the LADEE lunar mission. The primary idea is to launch these small craft en mass atop an SLS to clean out a specific orbit. There is also a potential launch on need capability using a single craft with a Minotaur IV. There are two satellite capture methods of now, a robotic arm (specifically nanoTerminator) and a cavity balloon.

These are a couple of models based on the concept that I built for the final presentation:

[Sakrison]

Fascinating!

[willygoat]

Great job! I hope you did well on the project. Seems as though this mission is something that we may need urgently in coming years. Thee's a whoooooole lot of space junk up there.

[dhanners]

Great builds. You might need to copyright that concept, or at least make sure your name is attached to it when we actually have to do it....

[Retired_for_now]

Nicely done! Reality (at least a solid model) beats virtual every time.
Yogi

[closet astronaut]

Hmmmm Space debris removal, now there's a career, could be a great market for that.

[Retired_for_now]

Any plans to post a LADEE (or moon spacecraft modules) model?


Yogi

[Dyna-Soar]

That's the next step.