Spacecraft Design Research Pack
Spacecraft Design Research Pack
This is the information pack you can use to help design your spacecraft.
In this pack there are lists of possible materials, structures and ideas to consider.
Improvements that could be made on your spacecraft:
Lowering the cost of space flight primarily means reducing weight. Each pound trimmed is a pound that won't need propulsion to escape from Earth's gravity. Lighter spaceships can have smaller, more efficient engines and less fuel. This, in turn, saves more weight,creating a beneficial spiral of weight savings and cost reduction.
The hatch that astronauts used to enter and exit the spaceship must be easy to open and close while wearing their space suits.
You could also consider this thought process in the design of your spacecraft:
The shape of your spacecraft is also important as it needs to easily fly through the air, acting against gravity.
(Drag is friction in the air and thrust is the upward push on the rocket)
Here is a list of some materials that could be used to build your spacecraft, you do not have to mention these in your plan but they are provided if you would like to use them.
Material / Advantages / DisadvantagesFibreglass / Very lightweight
Can be moulded into complex shapes
Aluminium / Low density, good strength.
Weldeable, easily workable
Cheap and widely available / Doesn’t have a high strength and has a low melting point.
Magnesium / Higher stiffness, good specific strength / Less workable than aluminium.
Is chemically active and requires a surface coating (making it more expensive to produce).
Titanium / Light weight with high specific strength
Stiff than aluminium
Corrosion resistant
High temperature capability / Not as stiff as steel
More brittle (less ductile) than aluminium/steel.
Lower availability
Less workable than aluminium (6 times more expensive than stainless steel).
Used for pressure tanks, fuels tanks, high speed vehicle skins.
Stainless Steel / High strength
High rigidity and hardness
Corrosion resistant
High temperature resistance
Cheap
Many applications in spacecraft despite high density (screws, bolts are all mostly steel).
Beryllium / Stiffest naturally occurring material
Low density
High strength
High temperature tolerance / Expensive and difficult to work
Toxic (corrosive to tissue and carcinogenic)
Planet / Information
MERCURY / A year on Mercury is just 88 days long.
Mercury has wrinkles: As the iron core of the planet cooled and contracted, the surface of the planet became wrinkled.
Mercury is the most cratered planet in the Solar System. Unlike many other planets which “self-heal” through natural geological processes, the surface of Mercury is covered in craters. These are caused by numerous encounters with asteroids and comets.
After the Earth, Mercury is the second densest planet.Despite its small size, Mercury is very dense because it is composed mainly of heavy metals and rock
VENUS / A day on Venus lasts longer than a year.
Atmospheric pressure on Venus is 92 times greater than the Earth’s. While its size and mass are similar to Earth, the small asteroids are crushed when entering its atmosphere, meaning no small craters lie on the surface of the planet. The pressure felt by a human on the surface would be equivalent to that experienced deep beneath the sea on Earth.
MARS / Pieces of Mars have fallen to Earth. Scientists have found tiny traces of Martian atmosphere within meteorites violently ejected from Mars.
There are signs of liquid water on Mars. Mars has been known to have water in the form of ice. The first signs of trickling water are dark stripes or stains on crater wall and cliffs seen in satellite images.
In the next 20-40 million years Mars’ largest moon, Phobos, will be torn apart by gravitational forces- creating a ring that could last up to 100 million years.
JUPITER / Jupiter has the shortest day of all the planets. It turns on its axis once every 9 hours and 55 minutes.
The upper atmosphere of Jupiter is divided into cloud belts and zones. They are made primarily of ammonia crystals, sulphur. Jupiter’s interior is made of rock, metal, and hydrogen compounds. Below Jupiter’s massive atmosphere (which is made primarily of hydrogen), there are layers of compressed hydrogen gas, liquid metallic hydrogen, and a core of ice, rock, and metals.
SATURN / Saturn can be seen with the naked eye. It is the fifth brightest object in the solar system. Saturn has the most extensive rings in the solar system. The Saturnian rings are made mostly of chunks of ice. The rings stretch out more than 120,700 km from the planet, but are amazingly thin: only about 20 meters thick.
Saturn has 150 moons and smaller moonlets. All are frozen worlds. The largest moons are Titan and Rhea. Enceladus appears to have an ocean below its frozen surface.
URANUS / Uranus is often referred to as an “ice giant” planet. Like the other gas giants, it has a hydrogen upper layer, which has helium mixed in. Below that is an icy “mantle, which surrounds a rock and ice core. The upper atmosphere is made of water, ammonia and the methane ice crystals that give the planet its pale blue colour.
Uranus hits the coldest temperatures of any planet: With minimum atmospheric temperature of -224°C. Uranus is nearly coldest planet in the solar system.
NEPTUNE / Neptune spins on its axis very rapidly. Its equatorial clouds take 18 hours to make one rotation. This is because Neptune is not solid body. The atmosphere of Neptune is made of hydrogen and helium, with some methane.The methane absorbs red light, which makes the planet appear a lovely blue. High, thin clouds drift in the upper atmosphere.
Neptune has a very active climate. Large storms whirl through its upper atmosphere, and high-speed winds track around the planet at up 600 meters per second. One of the largest storms ever seen was recorded in 1989. It was called the Great Dark Spot. It lasted about five years.