Team 518
Santiago Leon
B.S. Mechanical Engineering
Thermal Fluids Engineer
LinkedinFollowing graduation, Santiago is debating whether to continue his education or not.
Nicolas Meyaart
B.S. Mechanical Engineering
Test Engineer
LinkedinFollowing graduation, Nicolas will be a pilot for the Air Force.
Marco Porcelli
B.S. Mechanical Engineering
Software Engineer
LinkedinFollowing graduation, Marco will persue his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering.
Stephen Sutherland
B.S. Mechanical Engineering
Systems Engineer
LinkedinFollowing graduation, Stephen plans to join the workforce.
Our Advisors
Dr. Unnikrishnan Nair
Assistant Professor, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Marvin W. Barnes
Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA MSFC
Dr. Manish Mehta
Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA MSFC
Dr. Robert Adams
Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA MSFC
FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Our Project
Our goal is to design an experiment to measure the effects of nozzle size on crater formation on the moon. When landers touch down on objects in space, The jet exhaust interacts with the surface of that object - understanding how different nozzle sizes affect crater formation will allow this interaction to be better documented. The surfaces of these objects are often made of small rocks and sand, so predicting the reaction between the jet and the surface will help guide procedures when landing rockets. To simulate and study this reaction, we are designing an experiment to shoot a jet at a sand bed and record the crater formation. By splitting the jet over a see-through wall, half of a crater is created and measured by a camera on the other side of the sand bed. The experiment is set up to allow for an interchangeable nozzle and variable height to enable testing of different nozzle sizes. The jet itself also needs to reach speeds faster than the speed of sound, which makes the stability of the set up more important. An open set up is also desired to minimize how much sand bounces off the walls and returns to the crater. Using this data, aerospace organizations can get an idea of the expected cratering effects when landing a rocket on objects in space, which further reduces risk when landing spacecraft.
The Design
Click to learn more about our design.
Future Work
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Improve Nozzle Design
By improving the divergence of the nozzle the likelyhood of shocks occruing will be reduced and induce better flow that will give better results.
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Better Equipment
Currently 2D measurements are within the capabilties of the project, with more funding and more time, better cameras and sensors could be used to make 3D modeling possible.
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Lunar Regolith
While the sand used in this project still refelcts the bahavior of crater formation, lunar regolith would be the best material to test the real behaviors.
