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Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Engineering Physics
Gravity Compensation, Carter Glover, Siyuan Zhou
Gravity Compensation, Carter Glover, Siyuan Zhou
Senior Project
This project focused on the design, analysis, and testing of an air-bearing gravity compensation testbed intended to simulate reduced-friction motion for space-related applications. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were conducted to evaluate airflow characteristics, pressure distribution, and bearing performance under various operating conditions. The design was refined to improve load support, stability, and airflow efficiency while maintaining manufacturability. Experimental testing and simulation results were compared to assess system performance and validate design assumptions. The completed testbed demonstrates the feasibility of using air bearings to create a low-friction environment suitable for motion testing and gravity compensation studies.
Optical Force/Torque Sensor, Kyle Sweeney, Ian Unruh
Optical Force/Torque Sensor, Kyle Sweeney, Ian Unruh
Senior Project
This project presents the design, development, and testing of a low-cost optical force/torque sensor for Skyforge, an autonomous robotic system intended for in-space construction. The sensor utilizes eight optical transmissive sensors and a compliant PEEK spring mechanism to measure forces and torques across six degrees of freedom. By detecting spring deflections through changes in light intensity, the system provides real-time force and torque feedback while remaining significantly less expensive than commercially available alternatives. The prototype was designed to measure forces up to ±5 N and torques up to ±50 N·mm with a target minimum detectable force of 0.5 N. Calibration …
Skyforge End Effector, Sarah Alexander, Coleman Bubar
Skyforge End Effector, Sarah Alexander, Coleman Bubar
Senior Project
Large space structures are necessary for space advancement. However, construction is difficult with the current methods; SkyForge is a robot intended for orbital assembly. The robot will walk on and build the structure by utilizing the end effectors to grasp and position parts.
Skyforge—Autonomous Robot For On-Orbit Assembly Of Space Structures, Kate Keeler, Garrett Farnham, Logan Trier, Ainsley West
Skyforge—Autonomous Robot For On-Orbit Assembly Of Space Structures, Kate Keeler, Garrett Farnham, Logan Trier, Ainsley West
Senior Project
As interest in deep space exploration and satellite communications increases around the world, the need for large orbital structures such as space stations, solar fields, and telescopes increases in parallel. Current methods include monolithic modular assembly, expanding deployable structures or requiring Extra-Vehicular Activities, all of which are costly and highly specialized. This paper proposes a form of robotic on-orbit assembly for structures beyond the size constraints of the launch vehicle. The SkyForge system consists of a launch capsule containing construction materials and a pair of tripedal robots, identical in form and task. These robots would autonomously locomote on, and assemble …
Thermal Vacuum Technical Report, Taiye Ibukun Fatima Ougundare, Ryan Bade
Thermal Vacuum Technical Report, Taiye Ibukun Fatima Ougundare, Ryan Bade
Senior Project
This system enables ground-based testing of components prior to space deployment. It replicates key Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) conditions, including both pressure and temperature. The chamber reduces pressure from atmospheric conditions (~760 Torr) to ~7.6 × 10⁻⁶ Torr. The thermal vacuum system achieves temperatures ranging from −60 °C to +125 °C for realistic environmental simulation.
Skyforge: Payload Isolation, Denzel Ezekiel, Brayden Gogis
Skyforge: Payload Isolation, Denzel Ezekiel, Brayden Gogis
Senior Project
As humanity looks to expand its reach into space, there is an increasing need for large space structures. The existence of these structures would enable large-scale infrastructure for further exploration and long-term habitation of humans beyond earth. However, creating such large structures in space is extremely challenging. Extreme environmental conditions (temperature, vacuum, microgravity) make construction and material handling difficult. Manual construction is dangerous and expensive; it is unrealistic for astronauts to complete this work. The “SkyForge” project, inspired by “Skyworker” (2003), attempts to make large space structure construction possible. SkyForge is envisioned as a fully autonomous construction robot designed for …
Red Forest, Lucas Shilts
Red Forest, Lucas Shilts
Senior Project
Sustaining large numbers of astronauts on Mars will require greenhouses capable of supplementing astronaut dietary needs. Lower solar irradiation and high levels of ionizing radiation on the Martian surface complicate the growth of crops on the red planet. Crops on Mars must be protected from radiation sources while still receiving sufficient illumination to grow. This research seeks to develop a Martian greenhouse illumination and heating design capable of efficiently providing plants the illumination and warmth needed while protecting them from the Martian radiation environment. This research explores a design for a direct-light subsurface Martian greenhouse which employs sun-tracking mirrors, vertical …
Skyforge Core: A Triple Modular Redundant Computing Architecture For Small Satellites, Peter Staritz, Harrison Schmitt, Thomas Mcwatters, Ethan Hoyt, Josh Ellman, Sameer Sikander, Nate Westrum, Jordan Clark, Taebaeksanmaek Jung, Micah Williams, Lauren Myers, Kelden Wright, Matthew Homburg, Alex Roth, Jinran Zhang
Skyforge Core: A Triple Modular Redundant Computing Architecture For Small Satellites, Peter Staritz, Harrison Schmitt, Thomas Mcwatters, Ethan Hoyt, Josh Ellman, Sameer Sikander, Nate Westrum, Jordan Clark, Taebaeksanmaek Jung, Micah Williams, Lauren Myers, Kelden Wright, Matthew Homburg, Alex Roth, Jinran Zhang
Physics & Engineering Student Papers
As small satellite missions grow in complexity, there is increasing demand for greater onboard computational performance. Traditional radiation-hardened processors, while reliable, are expensive, slow, and suffer from long procurement timelines. In contrast, commercial off-the-shelf processors like the Raspberry Pi offer high performance at low cost but are vulnerable to radiation-induced faults such as single-event upsets. SkyForge Core is an experimental computing system that addresses this challenge by integrating three Raspberry Pi Zero W units into a triple modular redundant architecture. The system executes identical tasks on each Pi, compares outputs using majority voting, and identifies discrepancies. If a failure occurs, …