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N C M R S Non Contacting Modular Reconfigurable Spacecraft Brett S. Sauve Sachit Butail Mark Juncosa Josh Fikentscher A work in progress

Rough Task Flow Brett Sauve: 

Rough Task Flow Brett Sauve Design Mating System Mating System Geometry Superconductors Arrive in Mail Design Modules Obtain Module Materials Build Modules Design Power System Power System Geometry Design Air Table Build Air Table Test Systems NCMRS – Non contacting Modular Reconfigurable Spacecraft Status Presentation Uncertain Flow Relationship

Tasks Performed Mark Juncosa: 

Tasks Performed Mark Juncosa Tasks performed during last month Sanded and cleaned Lipson’s air table plate (floating surface of air table) Designed and fabricated octagon side plates for air table Designed and fabricated diffuser plate to even out air flow through air table Worked on sealing and bolting together of air table surface Built and tested three different varieties of pucks (recessed, machined aluminum and glass) for lifting capacity Outstanding assignments / Technical Issues Air table is fully functional with minimal disturbances! Wait for superconductors for testing of mating system Finish basic Simulink model of modules equipped with superconductor mating system (currently planned to make significant assumptions about superconductor <–> permanent magnet interactions) to aid in tuning and debugging of mating system

Tasks Planned Mark Juncosa: 

Tasks Planned Mark Juncosa List of Tasks to be done Testing and debugging of mating system – positioning and sizing of superconductors and permanent magnet arrays Testing and debugging of transition characteristics to ensure acceptable settling time (very likely considering current experiences) and reasonable sensitivity to initial conditions (will likely require some experimentation with superconductor orientation) Integrate mating system with other systems and package final modules together Prepare report including information about space scaling and possibilities of active control Test Plans for tasks above Test mating system for compliance with requirements. This includes natural frequency measurements and misalignment measurements (both rotational and linear). Test qualitatively and perhaps quantitatively the transition time and sensitivity to initial conditions

Tasks Performed Brett Sauve: 

Tasks Performed Brett Sauve Tasks performed during last month Obtained air table material, hardware and sealant Machined and attached air table bottom and feet Tested table lift capacity and frequency of puck motion Lift Capacity: 2 grams per square centimeter Natural Frequency: 0.5 to 0.2 Hertz Outstanding assignments / Technical Issues Identify possible problem areas on the air table surface due to inadequate air flow or excessive radius of curvature

Tasks Planned Brett Sauve: 

Tasks Planned Brett Sauve List of Tasks to be done Help Sachit revise power system design Package systems into modules once system geometries are known Obtain additional material for mounting systems in the modules Begin process of organizing and writing final report Test Plans for tasks above Create 3D Cad models of module systems and packaging Work with other team members to ensure that module design does not compromise the function of each system

Tasks Performed Joshua Fiekntscher: 

Tasks Performed Joshua Fiekntscher Tasks performed during last month Tested different forms for cooling system – 2 different types of foam materials and 3 different types of covering Foam materials: standard foam, liquid absorbent flower foam Coverings: paper, cloth, reflective metallic foil (pladstic coated on one side), and thin packaging foam. Decreased size of the SC cooling unit to minimize the weight (trade weight for time below Tc) 10 minutes below critical temp Weight decreased significantly Researched different superconductor suppliers Ordered superconductors 2 Melt Processed YBCO Hexagonal Levitator SCI Engineering Materials 1/2" Enhanced Flux-Pinning disk – Colorado Superconductor Inc. Outstanding assignments / Technical Issues Waiting for SC’s to come in to design the mating system Test different forms of insulation to attempt to decrease the weight even further

Tasks Planned Joshua Fikentscher: 

Tasks Planned Joshua Fikentscher List of Tasks to be done Test and debug the SC portion of the mating system on the air table – cooling system size, orientation, and integration into mating system Integrate the SC’s into the mating system Work on scaling issues for space: technologies for keeping cool in space, possible implementations Prepare for final design presentation/report Test Plans for tasks above Test SC integration with mating system, flux pinning points, how permanent magnet needs to be aligned

Tasks Performed Sachit Butail: 

Tasks Performed Sachit Butail Tasks performed during last month Completed Power transfer test: IR Emitters give good results > 1 % efficiency reached easily Lasers have very less area of incidence on the PV cells The PV cells used were presumably polycrystalline thus giving room for more efficiency with monocrystalline Electrical power system design draft begun, this will entail: Power source – PV cells, ESD Power storage system Power distribution system (IR/fiber optic transfer and processing unit) Integration of the above Found and ordered single crystal PV cells for final design. Outstanding assignments / Technical Issues Data transfer can be simulated by pulsing the LEDs.

Tasks Planned Sachit Butail: 

Tasks Planned Sachit Butail List of Tasks to be done Finalize Power System Design Fabricate and test power system Demonstrate data transfer Discuss and contribute in active control design Final paper Test Plans for tasks above Get Power system (PS) Design reviewed by Team mates, Prof. Peck Test power transfer with different alignments. If modules are not stable in a configuration for too long, change mount design to accommodate for that. Data transfer – discuss Active control design – requirements and suggestions