As part of Purdue University's Introduction to Aerospace Design course, (course code "AAE 25100") me and a group of three other students
were tasked with designing a Mars sample retrieval mission involving selecting a viable launch vehicle and launch date
while also calculating important astrodynamic mission parameters such as ΔV, mission duration, and stage masses.
During this project, I was largely in charge of writing all of these calculations in MATLAB and then communicating their mathematical basis in our
72-page report.
Me and my teammates' efforts won us the
Northrop Grumman Space Award in 2024
for having the most clearly communicated rocket design among all students in the Introduction to Aerospace Design course.
One key mission design choice that was unique to our solution, as highlighted by Northrop fellow Dave McGrath,
was our decision to entirely shed our Mars lander's entry, descent, and landing (EDL) gear upon ascending from the surface of Mars. This decision originated from the struggle to find
a viable rocket engine to fit within our Mars ascent vehicle that would provide enough ΔV to ascend back to the orbiting vehicle. By shedding the EDL gear, we effectively
reduced the weight of the Mars ascent vehicle which relaxed our criteria for possible engines to use in it.