Academic/Industry project portfolio for Max Fagin, up to 2020

1. PROJECT PORTFOLIO
MAX FAGIN
Note: this presentation contains no proprietary information
Altitude
(km)
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2. RECONFIGURABLE SPACE STRUCTURES
• Goals: Fully 3D printed node/truss structure for autonomous robotic manufacturing and assembly on orbit.
• Mission: Archinaut
• Timeline: 2 years
• Budget: $150k
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3. • Designed to support radio masts, synthetic aperture radars and large solar arrays.
• Reconfigurable after manufacturing by robotic manipulators.
• 3D Printable with zero waste material or post processing
• Programs Used: Autodesk Inventor
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RECONFIGURABLE SPACE STRUCTURES

4. • Goals: Loft a NIST calibrated light source to +100kft to provide an exact photometric reference for ground-
based supernova surveys
• Missions: ALTAIR 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
• Timeline: 2 years
• Budget: $20,000
• Role: Lead Mechanical Engineer, Flight Director
• Conformance to a strict mass limit of 2.7 kg required maintaining a master CAD for accurate mass tracking +/-
50g.
• Autonomous parafoil recovery system for targeted landings after flights to 100,000 ft altitude
• Programs used: SolidWorks, COMSOL Multiphysics, ANSYS FLUENT, GAMBIT
Mass tracking model
Electrical routing and
harnessing
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Steerable Foil for Landing Site Selection
HIGH ALTITUDE BALLOON GONDOLA

5. x5 Particle Ion Probe (PIP)
Sensor Tree
Sensor Boom
Credit: Craig Heinselman
Sensor Bay
5
• Goals: Design and manufacture a sensor boom to support 5 ion probes in a specific geometry during flight
through the aurora borealis
• Mission: MICA
• Timeline: 2 months
• Budget: $1000
• Programs used: SolidWorks, COMSOL Multiphysics
• Design for launch and deployment loading (static and dynamic)
SOUNDING ROCKET SENSOR TREE

6. Porous Media Condensing Heat
Exchanger 6
• Goals: Build and test a microgravity dehumidifier for spacecraft life support systems.
• Mission: Senior Design Project
• Timeline: 1 year
• Budget: $1500
• Programs used: SolidWorks, COMSOL Multiphysics
• Verified performance models on NASA’s Weightless Wonder.
• Design was as effective on a per mass basis as ISS/Shuttle dehumidifier.
SPACECRAFT DEHUMIDIFIER

7. 7
• Goals: Optimize propellant consumption for a vehicle employing supersonic retropropulsion while landing on
Mars.
• Mission: Masters Thesis, Purdue
• Timeline: 2 years
• Budget: None
• Programs used: MATLAB, OCTAVE, STK, GMAT
• 6DOF aeropropulsive trajectory simulations of landing low L/D vehicles on Mars.
• Derived a throttling function that allows for 4% propellant savings.
Bow Shock
Engine Plume
Propellant Savings
MARS EDL TRAJECTORY DESIGN
Jarvinen and Adams, 1970

8. 8
MARS EDL TRAJECTORY DESIGN

9. 9
• Goals: Model the dynamics of a Martian space elevator and Mars’s moons, Phobos and Deimos.
• Timeline: 10 years and still going
• Budget: None
• Programs used: MATLAB, OCTAVE
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MARTIAN SPACE ELEVATOR DYNAMICS

10. 10
• Goals: Testing technologies in the field to be used on Mars crewed missions
• Timeline: 8 months preparation, 2 weeks in the field
• Budget: None
• Managed all crew activities for 2 weeks
Greenhouse Operations
Telerobotics
EVA Planning and
Logistics
MARS DESERT RESEARCH STATION:
CREW 186

11. 11
• Goals: Testing technologies in the field to be used on Mars crewed missions
• Timeline: 8 months preparation, 2 weeks in the field
• Budget: $500
• Designed, built and tested a microbial fuel cell for detecting life in soil samples.
MARS DESERT RESEARCH STATION:
CREW 186

12. 12
• Goals: design and manufacturing services for faculty research.
• Timeline: 1 year
• Budget: Various
• Programs Used: SolidWorks, GeoMagic, COMSOL Multiphysics
Mold design for experimental
aircraft.
Formula hybrid component
machining and welding
Medical Scanning
Head
Dean’s Bell
Student Teaching
Demos
THAYER DESIGN FELLOWSHIP

13. The Sundial in 2006 (Incomplete) The Sundial in 2008 (Completed)
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• Goals: Build the largest sundial in the state of Colorado.
• Timeline: 2 years
• Budget: $2000
• Role: Chief Engineer, Project Manager
• Began as a high school team project with 15 students, but was left unfinished in 2006 since none of us
knew how to calculate the correct date/time positions. I returned in 2008 with another engineering
friend to apply our new knowledge about astronomy and structural engineering to finish the design and
construction. Final dial accuracy at noon was verified to be +/-30 seconds
COLORADO SPRINGS SUNDIAL