In 3D Design and Fabrication, students at OHS are competing to come up with unique solutions to various challenges put out by NASA’s HUNCH (High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware) program.
The program challenges young designers with the chance to design and fabricate real equipment that can have real-world applications in satellites and even space missions.
Sophomore Evan Piazza is working in a team to create a system for heat dissipation on a CubeSat, a small satellite in the shape of a cube that is usually used to prototype technology for larger satellites.
Piazza stated, “I really enjoy the tasks that we are given because we get to learn new things and design techniques.” He explained that this unique challenge can give them insight into how specific systems function in space compared to on Earth,
Piazza and his team designed this system using OnShape which allows them to model the designs on their computer and test them. “Our current design is heat pipes and thermal paste running from the heated spots to the top of the CubeSat where two deployable radiators flip out to dissipate the heat.”
On November 6, the team had a Preliminary Design Review (PDR) which is when their initial designs get judged by a team of experts who then give the teams ideas to improve their designs. “Our PDR went pretty well, a judge said that our idea was new and creative and that he liked it,” Piazza explained. Piazza’s team had a pretty good time during this judging phase which is good news.
According to Liam Frost, one of Piazza’s team members, “They were told to explore a specific type of metal that can bend back to its original shape when warmed up.” This type of metal is called a shape-memory alloy which can bend back to a set shape when it is heated beyond its transition temperature A shape-memory alloy is important because of the unique physical property that allows it to be severely deformed and recovered repeatedly without losing much of its strength. This aspect can allow for the radiators to be made much lighter than they currently are which can give the team a huge leg up in the competition.
Piazza explained, “The most challenging aspect of this project has been coming up with ideas that are light, and not super complicated so that astronauts could fix it if it broke.” The team had several design flops that were either too complicated to be easily repaired or they were too heavy for the guidelines.
Junior Kasey Gridley is working in the same competition but with a different team, his team is tasked with creating a cargo payload delivery system and legs for a lunar landing module rocket. “This is a pretty challenging and new experience, i’ve never worked on a rocket before,” he illustrated.
Gridley’s team has been making advances with their leg landing system, especially at their preliminary design review. “The engineers told us that our design is nice and we should begin testing its functionality soon so that we can plan for the cargo delivery system,” Gridley stated that everything is going smoothly so far and that his team should begin to test its landing capabilities on sloped surfaces soon.
These two teams have the chance to be able to make their design a reality in space in the near future if they continue to improve and work on their design.
