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Mission Design Challenge

Photograph an Asteroid

Saved locally on this device
Learning goals
  • Match instruments to the science goals of the challenge.
  • Balance mass, power, cost, risk, and communication throughput.
  • Explain your design tradeoffs in your own words.
Help & glossary
  • Meters update in real time so you can see the impact of each choice.
  • Errors are red; warnings are amber. You can still launch with warnings.
  • Your written explanation stays on this device.

This is an educational mission-design simulation. Scores and simplified engineering values do not represent an approved or operational NASA mission.

1. Briefing2. Platform3. Power4. Comms5. Instruments6. Timeline7. Explanation8. Results

Mission briefing

Design a small spacecraft that flies past an asteroid and takes clear pictures. You need a camera, a way to save power, and a way to send the pictures home.

Destination
A near-Earth asteroid
Mission type
Flyby
Environment
airless, sunlit-day

Science goals

  • Take clear pictures of the asteroid's shape.
  • Measure how big it is.

Sources