GLEE is a student ran, NASA funded project where the sole purpose is connecting students from around the world through microchips that they would be able to program themselves and send to the moon. The mechanical team's goal is to design a propulsion system that, when on the moon, will disperse the microchips all over the lunar surface.
There are three parts to the spacecraft: the Bay and the Linear Rail System, and the Barrel. The Bay holds 500 of the microchips called LunaSats. LunaSat's purpose is to measure various components from the moon's surface and surrounding area. The Bay gets stored in a guided rail system. The linear rail system is connected to a gear train and provides rotational motion. In theory it will spin up the to 300 rpm. Once that happens, a frangibolt constraining a spring will snap and the spring will be free to push the Bay out and guided by PTFE rods.
LunaSat Bay
The Bay holds the 500 LunaSats as mentioned before and has bearings that ride the rail system that keep the torsional loaded doors close. At the top of the Bay is a push plate that is also constrained by torsional loaded hooks. Once all 4 connects points are not in contact with the rail, they will push and eject the LunaSats out.
Linear Rail System
The linear rail system is an outer box that surrounds the LunaSat bay. You can see the PTFE rods inside the rail system. On the bottom you can see the connection to a dark grey part. This is what lets it spin up.
The dark grey piece is connected to a gear train and is powered by a motor. This can be seen below:
Knowing the existing wobble and thermal expansion and contractions, we implemented a suspension system that rides the barrel to allow for adjustments.
They are two shafts that have springs inside of them and allow the springs to compress or stretch depending on the situation.
Prototypes
To test this we were able to construct a working prototype that tests functionality, proof of concept, and making sure models work. The dispersion model was 59" diameter while the prototype was 51" diameter.
Prototype V2
Photos will be added soon
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