AstRoSoc Success in the UKSEDS Satellite Design Competition – Mind Rover Matter

Congratulations to the Mind-Rover-Matter team for their success in the UKSEDs Satellite Design Competition with their satellite S.P.A.R.K.L.E.S., achieving 4th place in the competition.

Mind Rover Matter, in collaboration with AstRoSoc, was founded in October 2020 to participate in the Olympus Rover Trials competition hosted by UKSEDS. The competition saw the team design and develop a small rover that would be utilised to perform specified tasks for assembling a habitat on Mars. The team overcame significant technical and logistical challenges in the ever changing landscape created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Simulated Planetary Apparatus to Remedy broKen Life Enabling Systems’ (S.P.A.R.K.L.E.S) primary task was to successfully identify digitally labelled sockets and connect them to a Kilopower nuclear reactor. S.P.A.R.K.L.E.S would need to identify the plug sockets and their correct location using a visual fiducial system, called AprilTag. This would be done by the rover correctly reading the QR codes on the plugs and matching it to the socket that shared the same code. The rover had physical constraints as well, requiring it to fit within a box volume no greater than 0.03m³ and not exceeding a mass of 5kg. In addition, S.P.A.R.K.L.E.S would need to survive a vibration test testing a range of induced oscillating forces. The built rover would then be tested in a simulated environment to perform its primary task of successfully connecting the Kilopower nuclear reactor to the Power Distribution Unit.

As the project continued, Mind Rover Matter and several other competition participants were struggling to find the facilities to build their rover due to key university facilities being closed. To compensate for this, the team would develop an Extended Design Review to identify key alterations that would be required to ensure the rover could function in a real Martian environment rather than a simulated one on Earth. This meant the team had to reconsider all aspects of the rover such as materials and communications. It also meant new features would need to be considered, such as thermal control and radiation resistance.

The rover itself was digitally modelled through SolidWorks. To demonstrate its functional capabilities as well as how it would perform structurally, the Finite Element Analysis tool within SolidWorks was used, providing critical information in iteratively developing the rover so that it met all of the baseline requirements stated in the initial competition rules.

Simplicity was at the heart of the design of S.P.A.R.K.L.E.S. The team aimed to produce a vehicle that minimised mechanical parts to improve its reliability when in operation. This in turn reduced the weight of the rover as the number of motors and servos required was kept to a minimum. The amount of wiring required was also reduced in this way. Materials selected for specific components were identified by how suitable they were for their purposes as well as their availability and cost. Mind Rover Matter had a specific budget to adhere to and thus produced a detailed cost analysis of all the components required and a forecast for whether components would need to be replaced. Manufacture processes were also considered for material selection. Based upon the availability of machinery (if the university workshops had been available) the team were able to identify what the most suitable materials to work with were for the project.

In total, Mind Rover Matter completed three engineering reports that documented the design and development of the rover and how it met each of the requirements requested by UKSEDS. This was a unique opportunity to develop technical documents that would be held to a suitable standard in a professional environment.

This competition provided the opportunity for the team to develop new skills in group collaboration, project management and working to demanding deadlines. These skills will be invaluable for the team members as they develop their promising careers in the future and/or participate in the competition next academic year.

Team Members

James Orme, Mohamed Alzaabi, Josh Finn, Fiona Poda, Augustus Barteska, Bianca Margara, Dan Morley, Lanré Logan, Swagat Das, Sam Ravirajam Junaid Arif, Yanis Apostolakopoulos.