The Assemblers| Let's Connect

Awards & Nominations

The Assemblers has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!

Global Nominee

Let's Connect

For bigger spacecraft capable of executing bigger missions, some of the assembly may be done in space. Your challenge is to design a simple approach that enables components to be assembled in space.

simple Assembly

Summary

Our project is to assemble parts on space by performing perfect alignment of parts and attaching them by using four Ropes moved by four thrusters which are attached to four hoops two on opposite sides of the mother ship and the hoops are moving on sliders which are existed along the mother ship and all of the son ships ,also there will be 4 hopes on each son ship 2 on each side adjacent to the sides in which the hoops with the slider are existed.And for the to ships to be aligned ,also there will be 2 cylinders next to each other on each hoop ,one is a docking and refueling station for the thrusters and it is fixed ,and the other cylinder will be a pulley for the rope

How We Addressed This Challenge

We developed a way to assemble things like :rockets and hotels .Our solution is important as it decrease the cost of sending folded parts to space by assembling them on space. Our solution is a creative way to align and attach ships and hotels .

First :In Alignment mechanism :

We decided to make the two parts perfectly aligned by making a hoop on each corner of the mother ship moving on sliders two on each side and the slider will be extended along all of the son ships to allow the hoops to be used on aligning all of the son ships ,also there will be four fixed hoops on each son ship 2 on each side which are adjacent to the sides containing the hoops moving with the sliders ,there will be 4 thrusters 1 on each hoop of the mother ship hoops ,each thruster will move through the son ship hoop facing it, then the mother ship hoop then each thruster will get back to the docking station on the mother ship hoop ,then the 4 ropes will be pulled simultaneously causing tension force that makes the son ship coincident to the hopes allowing the parts to be perfectly aligned.

Secondly : pulling mechanism

there will be 2 cylinders next to each other on each hoop ,one is a docking and refueling station for the thrusters and it is fixed ,and the other cylinder will be a pulley for the rope ,

Releasing mechanism :

When we want to release the thruster the pulley will release some rope allowing the gate to open and release the thruster to path trough the hopes and return back to the station, After the thruster , docks into the docking station the gate will close on the thruster's end of the rope as a locking mechanism to prevent tension on the thruster then the pulley will revolve around itself making the rope collected around it and creating a force that pulls the son ship to the mother ship and after alignment ,the son ship will move towards the mother ship by making the hoops move back on the slider

Third:Attachment mechanism 

the son ship will be provided with four cylinders on each corner and there will be slots for them on the mother ship 

,Also there will be a through hole on the cylinders of the son ship and the slots on the mother ship ,Also there will be small cylinders inside the through hole of the mother ship cylinder slots two for each one and there will be springs holding them ,after alignment the son ship cylinders will move towards slots by the hoops which are moving on sliders, and when they touch the small cylinders on the through hole

,The small cylinders will move away from the cylinder and when it's aligned with the through hole the small cylinders will enter into the through hole inside the son ship cylinders because of springs pressuring it so the son ship will be attached to the mother one. We hope to make space assembly simple and low on cost.

How We Developed This Project

we were inspired by Tug of war game to design a mechanism to achieve perfect alignment

we used solid works, UNITY and adobe after effect

we didn't know how thrusters work,

we had a lot of brain storming to achieve he idea of perfect alignment .

we had lack of technical skills.

How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project

we used this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP4_Q7iIlb0 to understand the idea of assembling in space

we used to be inspired by this mechanism : https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/technology/in-space-assembly

Project Demo

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dKCzpOGYGdfP1PAeIwLqvU5sLGQ_u0v5?usp=sharing

Data & Resources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP4_Q7iIlb0

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/exep/technology/in-space-assembly

Tags
#assembling #space_assembly #space_hotel
Judging
This project was submitted for consideration during the Space Apps Judging process.