Abstract
The technical and STS research projects discussed in this thesis both address components of hypersonic aerospace vehicles. Specifically, my technical project involves the conceptual design process of a small-scale hypersonic vehicle, while my STS research project analyzes flawed components of an oxygen tank within a hypersonic spacecraft. During the design process for my technical project, my team was heavily focused on conducting thorough computational testing to ensure our design performed as expected. This focus on testing motivated my analysis of the ethical consequences of poor safety testing and flawed designs within the field of hypersonic vehicles.
As discussed in the Technical Report, my capstone team developed a design for the University Consortium of Applied Hypersonics (UCAH) Hypersonic Flight Design Competition. The design, Hypersonic Low Altitude Research Projectile (Hyper-LARP), obeyed all constraints, including sizing and maximum altitude requirements, hypersonic launch between Mach 5 and 8, impact Mach of 2 or greater, and ability to structurally and thermally survive the flight. As part of the competition goal, the glide body design also minimizes cost while maximizing range assuming the presence of control systems to guide the device’s trajectory. The team used extensive computational testing to ensure Hyper-LARP would behave as predicted within the targeted flow regime and under intense heating and aerodynamic forces.
My STS research paper examines the treatment of the Apollo 13 astronaut crew by NASA engineers and staff. As a result of known oxygen tank flaws and failure to provide insurance to the astronauts, the crew was treated unethically before and throughout the mission. Specifically, I argue that the Apollo 13 astronauts were exploited and unable to exercise autonomy in decision-making because they were ill-informed of the elevated risks of the mission. I draw on Kantian ethics to demonstrate that NASA engineers and staff treated the crew unethically because they violated Kant’s reciprocity principle by treating the crew as a means through failure to inform them of all mission risks (Van De Poel & Royakkers, 2011, pp. 89–95).
Simultaneous work on these projects provided key insights into the importance of the relationship between adequate safety testing and ethical user treatment. While the technical project emphasized the need for thorough testing that the STS project case failed, my application of Kantian ethics to the Apollo 13 mission reinforced the importance of testing to protect the design’s users. This led to an even greater focus on Hyper-LARP safety testing to ensure full confidence that users could trust the design would behave as promised. Broadly, my work on the STS research project also draws attention to the critical importance of thorough safety testing and ethical treatment of users within my field. Given the elevated risk of many aerospace-related professions, inadequate testing and inability to make informed decisions can have catastrophic consequences for users and the public. Based on my takeaways from this STS research project, I plan to ensure all of my design work fulfills high safety standards and that users are well-informed of possible risks during operation to ensure fully autonomous decision-making.
References
Van De Poel, I., & Royakkers, L. (2011). Ethics, technology, and engineering: An introduction (pp. 89–95). Wiley-Blackwell.
Notes
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering
Technical Advisor: Dr. Xinfeng Gao, Dr. Christopher Goyne
STS Advisor: Dr. Benjamin Laugelli
Technical Team Members: Victoria Sun, Michael Della Santina, Michael Novak, Eric Voigt, Channing Reynolds, Genevieve Forrer, Soren Poole, Owen McGilberry, Joe McPhail, Joshua Stoner, Lukas Hange, Kayla Kadlubek, Arwen Nicolau
