SmallSat Mission Design Project
If you are studying for your M.Eng. through Cornell’s Distance Learning program in Aerospace Engineering, you have the option to participate in SMDS to meet your credit requirements for the M.Eng Project (MAE 6900). Students who wish to take this opportunity should email their interest directly to Andrew van Paridon (av568@cornell.edu). Confirmation of your intent to participate needs to be finalized in February (exact date TBC).
DL M.Eng. students will form their own team when they participate in this program, with their own mission and dedicated project supervisor. They will be able to participate in SMDS seminars, come to campus for all the in-person events*, and seek guidance from the teaching assistants during design week.
Eligibility
This opportunity is ONLY available to students in the Distance Learning program. M.Eng students who are enrolled in the on-campus program are not eligible.
Furthermore, students who wish to participate in SMDS need to have completed, or will complete in the current semester, MAE 5160 just as the regular SMDS participants do. This ensures you are able to fully participate in the program.
Course Requirements
As this is considered a 4CR course, students are expected to contribute 8-10 hours of their time per week towards the project, and you are expected to continue to work towards the project submission by the end of the summer semester (mid-august). Thus, the in-person event during Design Week in July is approximately the half-way point. Feedback during design week should set the stage for the work throughout the remaining summer period.
For submission, your team will need to deliver a 1 hour presentation during Design Week (mid-July) and a final report that summarizes your mission design by the end of the summer period (mid-August). This report will likely be 20+ pages (depending on the number in the group) not including appendices. The appendices will include a compilation of the analysis that you conducted throughout the work including CAD, orbital planning, thermal management analysis, budgets (pointing, power, monetary…), schedule, code, spec sheets for COTS components etc.
* Note that students taking this project as MAE 6900 are not required to come to campus for completion, but should expect to support their team with reasonable additional hours about that time. This is different than for participants in the regular SMDS program who ARE required to attend in-person.
Costs
Course costs are equivalent to the regular course costs incurred for a MAE 6900 project. An additional nominal fee will be incurred towards accommodation and food. TBC. Students are expected to make their own travel arrangements for the program.