This week, our team successfully finalized our logo and name. For the team’s name, we have agreed upon “A.R.C.”, which stands for Atmospheric Re-Entry Control. Furthermore, this week was the first time we met our Honeywell Liaisons through Teams and clarified our project scope and objectives. Initially, we were confused about the direction Honeywell wanted us to go and exactly what they wanted to gain from this demise project. But once we hopped off the call, our team had the “ah-hah” moment where a lightbulb was lit and a surge of motivation and inspiration was instilled in us.  

We began working on our Product Design Specifications (PDS) and this has allowed us to start diving deeper into our solutions. We decided that to start we are going to be splitting into two different teams to brainstorm on different solution, we are splitting into a group working on an active approach and a passive approach so all the disciplines in our group get a chance to work in our desired areas. This will allow us to come up with two unique solutions and present them to our liaisons for them to help us decide what one to move forward on. We have started to learn about what design specifications we should start thinking about by researching industry standards. 

Looking forward, our team has a lot to prepare for. Once our PDS is done and both groups start looking into specific design, we will need to decide which route to take. Our Preliminary Design Review (PDR) will be presented to Honeywell in 4 weeks. Before this we will need to explore both options, utilizing computer modeling, CAD models, and designing basic electronic systems. Our team is excited to figure out if a passive, active, or combination of approaches will be the best approach to this project.  

The European Space Agency has a very good article on the basics of Design for Demise. Anyone interested in the basics of this concept should definitely check it out!    ESA – Design for demise: bringing spacecraft down safely and efficiently