The NASA RASC-AL competition required each team to design a reusable, artificial gravity spaceship to Mars. I assembled a team of five aerospace and mechanical engineer and worked every week, starting with understanding the requirements and creating derived requirements, brainstorming with the craziest ideas we could think of and then having a trade study to decide on one idea. NASA required ideas that were both innovative and feasible.

We selected a design to spin the entire spacecraft, rather than have a microgravity section connected to a spinning section. We chose to use a phased array communication antenna because it can reorient its’ beam direction in milliseconds, which works well with the spacecraft’s rotation.

Our spaceship can change its diameter according to the mission phase in order to shift the center of gravity, as well as having a curved habitat for astronaut comfort. Video showcasing the spacecraft movement and the team behind the design.