MIE.32 – NASA Psyche Mission – Landing System

• Courtney Geske
• Hamza Godil
• Jose Gomez
• Ryan Icasiano
• Maciej Siembab

In August 2022,NASA will besending an orbiter satellite to survey and gather data on an asteroidnamedPsyche, located between the solar orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Unlike other asteroids, Psyche isspeculated to be composedmostly of metal instead of rock and ice, indicating thatit may the remnant core of an early planet. Observations and insight gathered about Psyche can help researchers better understand the composition and behavior of theEarth’s core. With the lack of current effective observations of the actual conditions ofthe asteroid, researchers have only been able to form general speculations about its environment. The terrain includesa multitude of possible scenarios, especially considering its metallic composition. This requiresthatresearchersinvolved insending a missionto land on Psyche must account for all of these possible situations. The design team has developed a landing system capable of handlingthe theorizedconditionsabove(as well as the microgravity), with the added capability of delivering a payload upon landing. This has been accomplished utilizingspecializedsoftware to simulate landing on the asteroid’s surfaceand to replicate a controlled landing using a scaled model. The design strategy involves ensuring the system created will succeed, while fine tuning required mechanisms and instruments to make the objective of touchdown and delivery are possible. Results from testing and observations of the above criteria showed that the system is capable of handling the necessary requirementswhile further accommodatingmultiple fail-safes in the event of possible issues.