Session
Session 3: Educational Programs I
Abstract
Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) undergraduate engineering students and faculty designed and built Idaho’s first CubeSat, MakerSat-0, which NASA launched into orbit on Nov. 18, 2017 from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Delta II rocket. MakerSat-0 was one of five CubeSats chosen by NASA in 2016 for the ELaNa XIV mission. It is the first in a series of proof-of-concept missions that will demonstrate the advantages of on-orbit manufacturing, assembly, and deployment of CubeSats from the International Space Station (ISS). This project is in collaboration with Made In Space, makers of the ISS 3D printer. For the past nine months, MakerSat-0 has been operating in a sun-synchronous polar orbit with a 97min period, 830km x 480km, an inclination of 97.71 degrees, and LTAN of 13:20. It has already travelled 110million miles in 3900 orbits and is expected to orbit for at least eight years. MakerSat-0 hosts two onboard experiments: an ionizing radiation particle counter built by Caldwell High School (CHS) students and a 3D printed polymer degradation experiment built by NNU students. Four different 3D printed polymer samples (ABS, Nylon12, PEI/PC, and PLA) are being exposed to long term spaceflight and are experiencing ongoing erosion and mass loss due to monoatomic oxygen radicals, outgassing, extreme temperatures, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, solar & cosmic ionizing radiation, and even micrometeor impacts. A novel vibrational cantilever test system was designed by the NNU team to continuously measure fractional mass losses from these polymer samples over a long time period in the harsh space environment. This will determine which materials are adequately robust for future use in 3D printed spacecraft. Early orbital data from this polymer degradation experiment shows that mass loss occurs at different rates from these various polymers, with the most robust (least mass loss) also being the densest material, PLA. Radiation data and satellite health data are analyzed, producing key lessons learned that have already been applied to the upcoming MakerSat-1 mission.
MakerSat-0: 3D-Printed Polymer Degradation First Data from Orbit
Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) undergraduate engineering students and faculty designed and built Idaho’s first CubeSat, MakerSat-0, which NASA launched into orbit on Nov. 18, 2017 from Vandenberg AFB aboard a Delta II rocket. MakerSat-0 was one of five CubeSats chosen by NASA in 2016 for the ELaNa XIV mission. It is the first in a series of proof-of-concept missions that will demonstrate the advantages of on-orbit manufacturing, assembly, and deployment of CubeSats from the International Space Station (ISS). This project is in collaboration with Made In Space, makers of the ISS 3D printer. For the past nine months, MakerSat-0 has been operating in a sun-synchronous polar orbit with a 97min period, 830km x 480km, an inclination of 97.71 degrees, and LTAN of 13:20. It has already travelled 110million miles in 3900 orbits and is expected to orbit for at least eight years. MakerSat-0 hosts two onboard experiments: an ionizing radiation particle counter built by Caldwell High School (CHS) students and a 3D printed polymer degradation experiment built by NNU students. Four different 3D printed polymer samples (ABS, Nylon12, PEI/PC, and PLA) are being exposed to long term spaceflight and are experiencing ongoing erosion and mass loss due to monoatomic oxygen radicals, outgassing, extreme temperatures, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, solar & cosmic ionizing radiation, and even micrometeor impacts. A novel vibrational cantilever test system was designed by the NNU team to continuously measure fractional mass losses from these polymer samples over a long time period in the harsh space environment. This will determine which materials are adequately robust for future use in 3D printed spacecraft. Early orbital data from this polymer degradation experiment shows that mass loss occurs at different rates from these various polymers, with the most robust (least mass loss) also being the densest material, PLA. Radiation data and satellite health data are analyzed, producing key lessons learned that have already been applied to the upcoming MakerSat-1 mission.
