REXUS-BESPIN

Hey, my name is Cassidy and I'm head of the mechanical team. That basically just means I go to a lot of meetings and make sure everyone in my group has something to do. Since the mechanical team is the largest in the project, we are able to split our tasks in specialties, such as design, simulations, parachute, pressure system... However, we still all contribute wherever we’re needed. I'm definitely lucky to have a team that works as hard as they do. They always seem to know what they're doing and they go out of their way to learn about the things they aren't sure about.

Right now we are still in the design phase. Although soon we will be able to decide between two different designs by using simulations and calculations to determine which one is most effective. The picture above is one of our initial designs. The largest challenge we've faced is trying to keep the mass as low as possible. If we were able to disregard this factor the design process would be much simpler, but where's the fun in that? Although new problems pop up all the time so there would still be enough other things to worry about.

After the structure has been designed, and a series of simulations have been run, we can move on to the manufacturing process. This is the part I'm looking forward to the most. Using our drawings, we will be able to build the structure for our experiment. Throughout the design and building process tests will be carried out to make sure everything is working correctly, and if not small changes will be made.

Once manufacturing is complete, and an insane amount of test are run, we will be ready for the part that everyone is looking forward to. Launch. Which is equal parts exciting and nerve wracking. With so many things that could go wrong it’s hard not to be nervous, but with this mechanical team I'm not that concerned.

 That's it from me, but look forward to hearing from the rest of the BESPIN team in the weeks to come.