Abstract
Space: the final frontier. Dreamers have long thought of it as a vast region of opportunity that has the potential to change industries and science. Currently, engineers and scientists are thinking of ways to put data centers in orbit, habitations on the moon, and astronauts on Mars. While these ambitious missions offer an exciting future, space has a big problem: it remains inaccessible to most today. This inaccessibility comes from a variety of sources, namely high costs and the growing amount orbital debris. My STS research paper focuses on how a lack of international regulation is leading to an increase in debris and therefore making access to space harder. My technical project focused on advancing hypersonic vehicle design, a promising technology that could lower the cost of space access.
Designing hypersonic vehicles is difficult. They experience extreme aerodynamic and thermal loads while in flight. If they are to be used to increase access to space, these challenges need to be resolved. My technical project focused on overcoming these problems. My group asked how we could best design our vehicle to optimize aerodynamic and thermal performance. We performed a case study before beginning, looking at many types of hypersonic vehicles, and learning how best to design one. We then utilized ANSYS Workbench to simulate flow conditions around our vehicle and the survivability of our vehicle. Our most important findings included that a flat bottom, delta wind configuration provides the optimal lift to drag ratio, thermal protection systems are required to survive the extreme heating, and a carefully designed internal structure can allow the vehicle to survive flight while carrying a payload and remaining in stable flight.
My STS research paper focuses on the problem of orbital debris and how it is limiting access to space. I primarily investigated the lack of international cooperation surrounding space debris and how it has led to a lack of regulation and funding. I analyzed treaties, regulations, and guidelines for Antarctica and the High Sea’s and related them to the outer space equivalents. One of the most important findings from my research was that when a founding document (such as the Antarctic Treaty) clearly and unapologetically declares that the preservation of an environment is to take place, future guidelines and regulations continue to focus on preservation. This was the case in Antarctica and some maritime countries. Outer space, however, lacked this fundamental priority, which has resulted in an orbital debris problem that is getting out of control. I also found that the concept of territory fits into Star’s definition of infrastructure (Star, 1999). By including it, it can be made even more apparent that without this territorial infrastructure in space, the funding and logistics of an orbital debris cleanup mission would be unlikely to come to fruition.
I believe I was successful in contributing to increased access to space, even though there is still a large amount of research to be done. I was able to draw connections between successful implementations of infrastructure, both territorial and physical, on Earth and the non-existent infrastructure focused on space debris. My technical project was chosen as a winner in the University Consortium of Applied Hypersonics design competition and will be tested in a hypersonic wind tunnel. The data collected from this test will be used to improve the understanding of hypersonic vehicle performance. There are many areas for future research to be conducted. For my STS research topic, future researchers could investigate international cooperation during the peak of the Cold War to write the foundational treaties and how similar outcomes could be replicated in space to tackle orbital debris. Also, an ethical analysis of proposed orbital debris cleanup mission funding sources could be conducted. Lastly, researchers could focus on the technology required for orbital debris cleanup infrastructure. For my technical topic, future research could continue to look at the materials capable of surviving hypersonic flight, and how vehicle designs, such as ours, can be scaled to allow for human passengers.
I would like to thank my Dr. Caitlin Wylie, Dr. Christopher Goyne, and Dr. Xinfeng Gao for their help in completing both my STS research paper and capstone project. I would also like to thank my team members on Hyper-LARP: Michael Della Santina, Victoria Sun, Michael Novak, Channing Reynolds, Genevieve Forrer, Soren Poole, Owen McGilberry, Joe McPhail, Joshua Stoner, Lukas Hange, Kayla Kadlubek, Ava Frodsham, and Arwen Nicolau. In addition, I would like to thank the engineers at CUBRC in their assistance realizing our capstone test article.
Notes
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering
Technical Advisor: Chris Goyne, Xinfeng Gao
STS Advisor: Caitlin Wylie
Technical Team Members: Victoria Sun, Michael Della Santina, Michael Novak, Channing Reynolds, Genevieve Forrer, Soren Poole, Owen McGilberry, Joe McPhail, Joshua Stoner, Lukas Hange, Kayla Kadlubek, Ava Frodsham, Arwen Nicolau
