Engineering Commons^™

Advances In Spacecraft Thermal Control, Sandra K. S. Boetcher, Robert C. Consolo Jr.

Publications

Spacecraft thermal management is critical for ensuring mission success, as it affects the performance and longevity of onboard systems. A comprehensive overview of the state of the art in spacecraft thermal control solutions, as well as a design methodology framework for efficient and effective thermal management, is provided. Various thermal control solutions, including coatings, insulation, heat pipes, phase-change materials, conductive materials, thermal devices, actively pumped fluid loops, and radiators, are discussed along with the primary sources of heat loading in space. The need for accurate modeling and analysis of the thermal environment to identify appropriate thermal control solutions and design …

The Mars Desert Research Station - Erau Crew 160 Expedition, Lycourgos Manolopoulos, Ashley Hollis-Bussey, Hiroki Sugimoto, Cassandra Vella, John Herman, Marc Carofano

Student Works

The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) is a research program which is owned and operated by the Mars Society. The MDRS is located in Hanksville, Utah which hosts simulations that are typically two weeks long for professional scientists and engineers as well as college students of all levels, in training for human operations specifically on Mars. This space analog facility is in isolation, allowing for rigorous field studies regarding research that represents a true mission as if the crew members are conducting a real expedition on Mars. Participants are assigned specific roles and tasks that are typically aligned with their …

Design And Assembly Of Parabolic Flight Payload To Evaluate Miniature In Vivo Surgical Robots In Microgravity, Kearney M. Lackas

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Laparoscopic surgery, also known as minimally invasive surgery (MIS), changed the face of surgery in the 1990s. With these procedures, surgeons use long, slender tools which pass through several small incisions. Performing surgery in this fashion has shown many benefits including reduced pain and recovery times, lower costs, and less scarring post-recovery.

The use of surgical robotics has shown several key advantages over MIS techniques. Minimally invasive surgeries typically require unnatural movements, have limited visibility, greatly reduce dexterity, and provide little tactile feedback. Through robot kinematics and specialized sensors, surgical robots can resolve many of these limitations, especially in terms …

Multi-Objective Optimization Of Wind Farm Layouts Under Energy Generation And Noise Propagation, Cristina Amon, Wing Yin Kwong, Joaquin Moran, Michael Morgenroth, David Romeo, Peter Y. Zhang

Publications and Scholarship

Wind farm design deals with the optimal placement of turbines in a wind farm. Past studies have focused on energymaximization, cost-minimization or revenue-maximization objectives. As land is more extensively exploited for onshore wind farms, wind farms are more likely to be in close proximity with human dwellings. Therefore governments, developers, and landowners have to be aware of wind farms’ environmental impacts. After considering land constraints due to environmental features, noise generation remains the main environmental/health concern for wind farm design. Therefore, noise generation is sometimes included in optimization models as a constraint. Here we present continuous-location models for layout optimization …

A Vacuum Four-Ball Tribometer To Evaluate Liquid Lubricants For Space Applications, Masabumi Masuko, William R. Jones Jr, Ralph Jansen, Ben Ebihara, Stephen V. Pepper, Larry S. Helmick

Science and Mathematics Faculty Publications

The design and operation of a vacuum tribometer, based on the four-ball configuration, is described. This tribometer evaluates the tribological characteristics of liquid lubricants for space applications. Operating conditions include: room temperature, loads to approximately 1000N, speeds to approximately 500 rpm, and pressures of approximately 10(exp -6)Pa. Tests can also be run at atmospheric pressure with air or nitrogen. Some typical test results are included.