USLI Payload
Aug 2024 - May 2025
As part of Northeastern University's Aerospace club, I had the opportunity to participate in a 9 month long design competition with top ranking universities from all over the nation. The NASA USLI Competition (University Student Launch Initiative) sets strict design and documentation requirements, requiring tems to document their designs in formal engineering reports and a series of presentations before a board of NASA engineers. Based off an initial proposal, 50 university teams are selected to go through the full design process, culminating in Launch Day in April. Every year, a scientific payload challenge is given to teams to test their engineering capabilities. I took the role of Payload Mechanical Design Lead to develop a landing module which could deploy and transmit data about flight and surface conditions upon landing.
Project Walkthrough
Look through the images and descriptions below to see how this project came to life!
Skills / Tools Used:
OnShape, Prusa Slicer, 3D printing, laser cutting, prototyping, design for RF shielding, design of linkages / pneumatic mechanisms, teamwork, assembly integration, testing.
Whiteboard sketch of various initial design ideas
01
Design Brainstorming
During the initial brainstorming phase, I lead the process to decide target design requirements and develop some preliminary ideas. We decided that the payload should be passively deployed by a single action such as a spring rather than actively controlled with a servo. This decision was taken to reduce failure modes and make the design only as complex as necessary.
02
CAD Design
The CAD design for this project was done in OnShape since it easy to share and work on files with new members of the AeroNU club. Once we decided on design requirements, I lead the CAD design process and came up with the idea of using 3 gas struts for the passive deployment. This involved careful positioning of the mounting points and the addition of a sliding slot. I designed all parts to be either 3D printed or laser cut to simplify manufacturing. The electronics team provided the CAD for the circuit board shown in the image on the right.
Completed CAD design of payload landing module
03
Deployment Testing
With CAD Design complete, a proof of concept was assembled to verify that the proposed deployment mechanism would work before continuing further. The circular bulkheads and the landing legs were lasercut from 6061-T6 aluminum and the enclosure body was 3D printed with PETG. The video on the left shows the first successful deployment test !
Video of first deployment test
04
Full Scale Flight Test
The full scale flight test took place during a test flight of the rocket in St.Albans, VT. The payload successfully dethatched from the rocket and landed separately from other major components. Unfortunately since this test took place in winter, the payload was not designed to deploy in snow. The bottom 2 legs got stuck but did deploy as intended after a slight nudge. The test was considered a success since the burn wire release mechanism worked as intended and the deployment likely would have succeeded if there was no snow.
Payload found upon landing stuck in snow (left)
Successfully deployed after slight nudge (right)
05
Competition Launch Day
On the final competition launch day the payload was re-assembled for the final time. New 3D prints were used to reduce any chances of fatigue failure from testing done on the previous prints. An electronics test was conducted once the payload was fully assembled to ensure it was transmitting all data points and on the correct frequency.
Completing final assembly of payload on launch day
06
Results
The payload launch vehicle had a successful flight to 4,266 ft. The parachutes deployed and the payload could be seen descending with the rocket as intended. On the ground, the payload successfully transmitted all required data points for the NASA competition and received a full score for data transmission.
Payload descending under parachute (top)
Deployed payload after after rocket landing (left)
Flight rocket (right)
Lessons Learned:
In this project I got to learn a lot about design documentation through the process of submitting several detailed reports to NASA engineers and formally presenting our design to panels of NASA engineers. This process helped strengthen my skills in engineering communication, defending/explaining design decisions, and incorporating feedback into the design. I also got to expand upon my leadership capabilities from leading a small team throughout this competition. I further expanded upon my prototyping skills using 3D printing and laser cutting.
Project Gallery
Explore the photos below for a more complete look at this project!
