View the packet below or download it in Word format.



Table of Contents
  • Executive Summary
  • Benefits
  • The ASTRO Mission: The Autonomous Landing Vehicle (ALV)
  • ALV Subsystem Structure
  • Team Structure and Organization
  • Subteams
    • Avionics
    • Mechanical Systems
    • Business
  • Contact Information


Executive Summary

Cornell University's Aerospace Systems Technology and Rocket Operations (ASTRO) team is not just another school club. We are a team of highly motivated students with a common goal of building an autonomous landing vehicle. Since we are an independent student research group, we are only able to keep our project going through generous donations from those that take an interest in our project. Our goal is to raise enough money to fund our $25,000 expenditures for the current semester.

The ASTRO Project team is a multi-disciplinary group of approximately 54 students who have come together to design and construct a fully functional autonomous landing vehicle (ALV) by the year 2003. At the conclusion of this development, the team will test the vehicle in the Earth environment, and use the principles learned to research and develop ideas for further research with interplanetary vehicles. The team is a student-organized and student-led group, and we currently have representatives from six of the Engineering disciplines. The group has been conducting research on the topic independently since the fall of 2000, and since its inception has constructed and tested a multi-axis sensors/control test-bed (SCT), and tested a commercially available liquid fuel rocket system.

Included in this packet is a comprehensive list of benefits detailing the advantages of team sponsorship. Also included is a brief synopsis of the overall ASTRO team structure, as well as a more detailed look into the current projects and individual subsystem groups. At the end of the packet is a list of contact information in order to ease the process of making a donation to the ASTRO team.



Benefits

The primary goal of the ASTRO business team is to acquire university and corporate sponsors for the team. For the spring semester, 2002, the team needs to raise $25,000. The donations can be monetary or equipment based. Please contact either your current representative or the business team project manager for a detailed budget to determine if you have equipment to donate, or to donate your money towards a specific subteam. All contact information is included at the end of this packet.

There are many benefits that the ASTRO team can offer their sponsors:

  • Corporate logo display on all ASTRO campus and off-campus displays
  • Corporate logo and web-page link from the ASTRO sponsors web-page
  • Permission to use the mention and affiliation to ASTRO in any related corporate press releases
  • Mention of company in all ASTRO press
  • Possible recruitment from the team roster for internships and full-time positions
  • Company recognition on campus through team-sponsored postings

Please contact the team to make a contribution, or for more information.



The ASTRO Mission: The Autonomous Landing Vehicle

The Autonomous Landing Vehicle (ALV) is the main project of the ASTRO Research Team. The ALV will be designed to descend from a significant height and land safely within a certain designated area. Student team members in ASTRO will work to design and implement all ALV sub-systems to create a rocket powered landing system. This landing vehicle will utilize liquid propellant rocket engines as the primary means of providing the thrust necessary to bring the ALV to a safe landing. Other ALV sub-systems include the propellant delivery system, lander frame structure, sensor equipment, processing hardware, control software, and telecommunications electronics.

The ALV will be integrated and tested in two stages. After initial integration of all sub-system components, the ASTRO team will demonstrate success by having the ALV lift itself off the ground and, after attaining a low altitude, descend to a soft landing. After completing this first stage, the design and implementation of all components will be re-evaluated and modified as needed so that the ALV will descend from terminal velocity to a soft landing on the ground within a designated area. Future iterations and alterations of the ALV may include implementation of a neural network controller and machine vision.



ALV Subsystem Structure



Team Structure and Organization



Sub-Teams

Avionics

The avionics team is responsible for delivering the hardware and software that will be used to control the motion of the ALV and allow two-way communication with a ground station. The function of the avionics unit is reading sensor data, executing control software, and producing control signals for all actuators, such as the main rocket engine throttling valves. All of this will be done on-board. In addition, the avionics unit will transmit data to the ground station and receive high level commands, such as initialization, shutdown, and abort commands. The subsystems that make up the avionics unit are: sensors, processors, control software, and telecommunications. Separate teams of students are responsible for developing each of these subsystems.

Sensors:
The functionality of the sensors subsystem includes sensing the ALV's altitude, attitude, and their respective rates of change. This team conducts the selection and testing of sensor devices, such as angular rate sensors, magnetometers, accelerometers, and an altimeter system. When we combine the rate sensors and magnetometer package, we will have a complete attitude-sensing package. Finally, we will begin work on the altimeter system, starting with a trade study of potential hardware, and, time and budget permitting, we will begin the testing of that system.

Processors:
The processor subsystem will execute all ALV control software and manage the flow of data throughout the entire lander. Thus, the processor team interacts with all teams in developing subsystem interfaces. We will be working with the new, faster DSP chips, and the main challenge will be to implement a working, expandable interface between all subcomponents. Some of our other goals for this semester are to build analog and digital multiplexers for both input and output as well as researching noise filtering routines and compensation algorithms.

Control Software:
The control software team is responsible for designing and implementing a control law for the ALV. This controller will maintain vehicle stability as well as control the flight path. In order to develop the ALV controller this team must obtain the subsystem information which will enable accurate consideration of the characteristics of the ALV. To develop this controller, classical control theory, modern control theory, and neural network algorithms will be used.

Telecommunications:
The telecommunications subsystem will transmit data to the ground station and recieve high level commands from the ground station. The ground station will then be able to observe the state of the ALV subsystems as well as track the motion of the ALV. In addition to this, the ground station will be able to send high level commands to the ALV for initialization, shutdown, and abort sequences. In order to accomplish this, a ground station display interface will also be developed. Research and development are currently being conducted on two-way transceivers.

Mechanical Systems

The Mechanical Systems Sub-Team is responsible for designing and building the non-electrical hardware components of the ALV. These components include the fuel-feed system, the rocket engine, and the ALV structure. One branch of the Mechanical Systems Sub-team will focus on the development of safe testing procedures and methods of testing the complete rocket system.

Fuel-Feed Project:
The Fuel-Feed Project's responsibility is to provide a propellant-delivery system for the ALV, including such hardware as propellant tanks, throttling valves, and all plumbing systems.

Rocket Design Project:
The rocket design project will be mainly focused on providing a set of three to five rocket motors for the ALV. These rocket motors will be connected to the Fuel Feed System, and will provide sufficient thrust to be able to bring the ALV to a soft decent. The main components that the rocket design project will produce includes the combustion chamber, converging-diverging nozzle, propellant atomizers, or injectors, rocket cooling system, and the ignition system.

Propulsion Testing Project:
The propulsion testing project will be mainly focused on providing testing equipment in the form of hardware and software, for the purpose of testing the liquid propellant rocket engines. Hardware will include designing and fabricating a vertical test stand capable of testing up to three rocket motors simultaneously, while recording data such as thrust, throttling response, pressure, and temperature in the combustion chamber. The project will also include building protective structures, and developing software to record data, and control testing hardware.

ALV Structures Project:
The ALV structures project will be mostly involved with the design and fabrication of the ALV frame. This frame will include all hardware mounting points for such devices as sensors, microcontrollers, power supplies, telecommunications hardware, rocket motors and the fuel feed system. The frame will also include landing gear, which will aid in softening the ALV touchdown. The ALV frame will be designed to be lightweight, and strong enough to survive a mild crash.

Business

The business team is the youngest of the ASTRO sub-teams. Created in January of 2002, its purpose is to assist the team in overall administrative and integrative functions. This includes budgeting, scheduling, checking, and funding for the lander research, testing and construction. The business team also controls the team's public relations, including on-campus recruiting and corporate sponsorships. Currently, there are plans to create an intercollegiate competition for Autonomous Landing Vehicles and aerospace research. The responsibility of making such a competition a reality will fall upon the business team.

Goals for the business team this spring are varied. Along with developing a concrete structure for our team, we will be assisting in restructuring the overall ASTRO team. This includes implementing all necessary documentation as well as creating new systems for communication within the team. The business team will use the restructuring as a vehicle to develop systematic and efficient budgeting and scheduling methods for even further use in future years, as well as a corporate tracking system to account funds and contributions made by our sponsors. The team will also acquire and maintain all corporate relationships, begin forming contacts for the intercollegiate competition, and create methods for gaining and updating sponsors.



Contact Information

For more information or to discuss your contribution, please contact the representative who sent you the packet. If you are unsure of whom you spoke with, contact any of the following ASTRO business team members:

Contact Team
Jia Huangjyh23@cornell.edu
Sonalini Khetrapalssk26@cornell.edu
Yuriko Medinayem3@cornell.edu
Nirav Shahnps8@cornell.edu
Jesse Yujby4@cornell.edu

And if you are unsure whom to contact, you can contact the team project manager:

Elana Blattemb28@cornell.edu