Deus Siderum

https://sites.google.com/view/deus-siderum/main-page

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ET3MwLcViMHuEFX3rimGiwLfVamo2kxtfdSLHJtffxc/edit?usp=sharing

The project that we have developed provides the astronauts with the basics that they need to survive and continue the journey for which they have left the earth. To sustain life on Mars, we have developed vital toolbox items and a rover wheel which will be used to repair the broken machines and the rover’s broken tire. 

For the broken wheel, after extensive research, unlike the former Mars rovers Perseverance and Curiosity which use old-generation aluminum tires, we preferred to use a spring tire, made of stoichiometric nickel-titanium alloy, for our model based on the advantages it provides: including but not limited to, traction in soft sand, durability, and reduction in the overall weight [Welch]. Moreover, it is known that old generation aluminum tires of the Perseverance and Curiosity have deformed over time because of the Martian surface; on the other hand, the tests made by NASA so far showed that the new model spring tires are way much more durable thanks to physical characteristics of the stoichiometric nickel-titanium alloy [Lakdawalla]. This longevity is due to the fact that stoichiometric nickel-titanium alloy is flexible, which lets the tire bend in contact with a sharp object and does not get deformed, unlike aluminum tires [Superlastic Tire]. The measurements of our model are 50 cm in diameter, 40 cm wide, and 0.75 cm thick, which is the same as the old generation tires [Rover - NASA Mars]. Furthermore, we have added closed outboard faces to prevent sand and rocks from getting into the wheel. The internal mechanism of our model can be defined as 12 aluminum bolts, which connect two sides of the wheel, to be the hearts of our model’s durability, and these bolts are connected to the center of the wheel from the aluminum circles in the middle of them via the aluminum bars. We used aluminum for the inside to reduce the weight even more while increasing the durability [Aluminum in aviation]. The working principle of our spring tire can be ordered as:

1. The rover axis, which comes from the engine, not a part of the wheel, enters the wheel from an empty space in the center of the inside of the wheel.
2. When the rover axis enters the wheel while turning, it moves the aluminum bars which are attached to it.
3. As the aluminum bars are turning, they are causing bolts to turn which, later, makes the wheel move. 

As our model is way bigger than the maximum capacity of the metal printer, we will be building our wheel part by part. This process can be defined as:

1. The exterior of the wheel will be built in 12 runs by the metal printer so that the angle of the wheel is protected.
2. After that, all of the bolts will be divided up into 3 parts and then the parts will be put together, which will make it 36 runs by the metal printer for the bolts.
3. Then, we will construct the aluminum circles in a total of 2 runs, and put them in their place in the middle of the bolts.
4. Lastly, the aluminum bars, which connect bolts to the rover axis, will be built in a total of 21 runs given the fact that these aluminum bars are all over the wheel.

The first item we developed was a multi-task item which is a combination of a wrench and hammer. We have chosen to unite the wrench and hammer to cut down on the amount of needed material, which is the main advantage of the wrench-hammer multi-task item, by placing them on the opposite sides of the same handle. The wrench and handle sides of the item are made of aluminum which is one of the most abundant elements on Mars; on the other hand, we have decided to use iron for the hammer side as it needs to be strong enough to withstand all the hits it gets [Aluminum., Iron(FE)]. Thus, we are only planning on using the metal printer with a single effort as our wrench-hammer multi-task item fits into the maximum dimensions of the metal printer. This item is not solely made to repair broken items but the hammer side can also be used outside the habitat for other purposes. 

Our second item is, again a multi-task item which, this time, is made of a screwdriver and a flashlight. The main reason why we chose to place the flashlight behind the screwdriver was the fact that screwdrivers get wider on the back side so that grasping it will be easier, which makes it a perfect place to put the flashlight at. This item is used to help the astronauts to work with bolts and nuts while repairing and retaining the machines and also, not only, in the narrow departments(areas) of the habitat to lighten their sight as a flashlight would be a handful to use outside the habitat. The benefits of this item are not limited to this; it also contributes to the building process of the rover wheel, the flashlight’s light source in the repair phase of the machinery, and its strong form which makes it even more trustable during an emergency such as power cut or broken machinery. Furthermore, to make the screwdriver convenient for all the bolts and nuts, we have designed 3 headings which are minus, tri-point, and plus. This item is made fully of iron, and this is due to the need for a durable and practical item, as stated above, during an emergency. The reason why we chose to build the flashlight side out of iron was to create equivalent durability between the two sides of the item. We will build the item from the metal printer in a single piece and get the needed batteries, light source, and other electrical mechanisms from our landing craft.

Our third item is an Allen keys box, with 8 Allen keys, all edging from 0.2 cm to 1cm in diameter which are the most common sizes of Allen keys [hand tools]. All of the Allen keys are made of iron to avoid deformity while being used. Just like the wrench-hammer multi-task item, Allen Keys are made by the metal printer with a single try due to their small size. The main benefit of our Allen keys model is that we have designed a perfect-size box to prevent unwanted situations such as small ones going missing. With our item’s advantage of containing both small and big types of Allen keys, we are expecting to reach(solve maybe) both small and big problems in the machinery.

The fourth item that we are going to construct at the Mars habitat will be a plier, another essential item that astronauts need. Given the fact that our objective is to repair the broken machinery, which is all about electricity, a plier might be the item that astronauts need more than anything else since a plier is an item that helps people to work with cables and other electrified stuff. We have designed our plier with iron since it is less electrically conductive than the other metals we could get our hands on at Mars [Electrical Resistivity]. Yet, it is not safe for a human being to touch a plier by hand as it is still made of metal. Due to this, we intended to make our plier safer, achieving this by designing two handles for each side of the plier that is made of plastic. For this item, firstly, we are going to build the base of the plier, the iron part, with the metal printer; after that, the plastic handles, built by the plastic printer, will enter the scene to make our plier more secure for astronauts for whom it is built for.

The last toolbox item that we have built is a utility knife, which might have the most widespread usage among all these toolbox items due to its shape and sharpness. With this model, we intend to help astronauts from their kitchen duties to off-habitat expeditions. For the utility knife, we have used iron, due to its durability, for the metal part and plastic for the handgrip [Iron(FE)]. The handgrip and the sharp part of the model will be printed separately. We are hoping to create an item that astronauts can even carry in their back pocket as it is more than just an ordinary utility knife but, indeed, an everyday item. 

We have also built a toolbox to keep the items we have developed inside it. With all these items and the rover wheel, we are hoping to complete our objective of staying alive for 1 year on Mars and continue the rover expeditions.

In our project, we mostly used data from organizations that are connected to NASA, two of the reasons for this choice were that while we were working on our project, we wanted it to be suitable for NASA’s works, and the other reason was the rover wheel we designed. After comprehensive research, we came across NASA’s newest rover wheel design, which is the spring tire. After we threw the idea of the spring tire back and forth as a team, we compromised on the design of the spring tire. In other words, NASA’s data shaped the basis of our project substantially because the new spring tires are much more advantageous than the old generation aluminum tires. All of the NASA and the Space Agency Partners of 2022 data we have used in our project can be aligned as:

Nikki Welch. (2017, October 26). Reinventing the wheel. Reinventing the Wheel. https://www.nasa.gov/specials/wheels/

• This NASA open-source can be described as the most important one we have used for our project as it helped us make our minds on the spring tire. 
• This open-source did not only inspire our project but, actually, provided us with information about the advantages of the spring tire that the old generation aluminum tires did not have.

Superelastic tire. (n.d.). NASA Technology Transfer Portal Home. https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/LEW-TOPS-99

• Information about the spring tires’ background, even more benefits, and, most importantly, from which materials the spring tires are made of. 
• With this information, we have made changes to our spring tire model.

Wheels | Rover – NASA Mars exploration. (n.d.). NASA Mars Exploration. https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/spacecraft/rover/wheels/

• Got important data such as the measurements of the rover tires and the materials the rover tires are made of.
• This data was crucial for design as we wanted our model to be convenient(consistent? with the NASA tires.

As a team of 4 freshman students, during the 2-day SpaceApps process, we had many opportunities to acquire many new skills and information, such as academic-level linguistic knowledge, and 3D printing skills. With a chance to demonstrate our investigative spirit, we learned a lot about the Martian regolith and atmosphere, and the conversion of raw Martian materials into usable 3D printing material. We also improved our friendship and communication bonds by working as a team and using the information we learned in practice by showing off our 3D design capabilities to design the most common and important tools, for which we asked our local industry experts to get the most accurate information. In this process, we learned how to work as a team, the subtleties of doing research, and how to use the Fusion 360 program to make 3D designs. We cannot ignore what our friend and team member Poyraz, who has worked on 3D designing before, taught us during the learning phase of 3D designing. It should not be hard to guess that we will choose this duel, considering our interest in space, Mars, and 3D designing as a team. Since the members of our team were already friends with each other, we did not have a major communication problem (we discussed dynamics openly and reached a consensus, and solved minor problems by talking), but our lack of knowledge about 3D design caused us problems at first. However, we overcame these problems by sharing what we know with each other and using the power of our friendship bonds, and we learned a lot about how to design 3D objects in the process. 

References

1. Nikki Welch. (2017, October 26). Reinventing the wheel. Reinventing the Wheel. https://www.nasa.gov/specials/wheels/
2. Emily Lakdawalla. (2014, August 19). Curiosity wheel damage: The problem and solutions. The Planetary Society. https://www.planetary.org/articles/08190630-curiosity-wheel-damage
3. Superelastic tire. (n.d.). NASA Technology Transfer Portal Home. https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/LEW-TOPS-99
4. Wheels | Rover – NASA Mars exploration. (n.d.). NASA Mars Exploration. https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/spacecraft/rover/wheels/
5. Aluminum in aviation: Aluminum goes to Mars. (2016, February 26). Profile Precision Extrusions. https://profileprecisionextrusions.com/blog/aluminuminaviation-aluminum-goes-to-mars/
6. Aluminum. (2021, June 22). Marspedia. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://marspedia.org/Aluminum
7. Iron (FE) - Properties, applications. (2013, July 11). AZoM.com. https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=9094
8. handtools. (2020, February 25). Allen wrench sizes | Chart for metric & SAE hex keys | Standard sets. Hand Tool Essentials. https://handtoolessentials.com/blog/tools/allen-wrench-sizes-hex-keys-chart-metric-sae/
9. Electrical resistivity and conductivity. (2022, August 6). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistivity_and_conductivity

Slide Template

• Mars colonization thesis | Google slides & PowerPoint. (n.d.). Free Google Slides themes and Powerpoint templates | Slidesgo. https://slidesgo.com/theme/mars-colonization-thesis

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