Space Apps Challenge 2017

NASA space apps challenge is an international challenge between university students from all around the world to solve issues concerning earth and space. This challenge let students use imagination, creativity, and talent in order to deal with the challenge they choose. Moreover, it allowed students from different majors to be in one group, giving the chance to everyone to participate, and share ideas. This diversity bring us the passion to make a great project, and work hard to achieve what we want to design. We have named our project “The Space Diver” and that for functions it does. In our project we have tried to create a new thing that facilities the life of astronauts, we looked for an economic clean energy, and during the project we have faced many obstacles.

The Space Diver, is a space rover that is totally different than the rovers people know nowadays. It is sphere shape rover, something that makes it unique. We decided on this shape for the benefits it can make compared with the normal rover shape. Among the benefits of this shape there is first, transportation. It can contain an astronaut inside it which will help them to transport easily. Second, it will allowed astronauts to move faster, because the surface of the friction is going to be small and in one place. Third, it can change the direction faster. Since it is sphere shape, that allowed it to turn in its place without having to turn like the way the care do. This reduce the percentage of rover being stacked. Fourth, it is comfortable. We have decided to put springs as a way to let the person inside the sphere not affection by the geography of the planet. Finally, the good look. Most of rovers nowadays are not that good looking. Therefore, we have decided on a sphere shape because it will give it new and nice look.

In order to economies energy, and to not cause pollution, we have decided to put solar panels. Those panels are going to provide the rover by energy every day. They are going to look like a head to the rover which mean they will be in the top of the sphere shape, and they will be attached to it by a magnetic field, and to let it fixe or not to spin. This head will contain a battery, that is going to be charged by solar panels, and that can be used to provide the vehicle with energy. This process will let astronauts to energy.

During the planning and the preparations for our project, we have been faced by several obstacles. Among those obstacles we can talk about the way we can make the rover move and accelerate. To solve this issue we have agreed on putting wheels between the outer and inside sphere, so it will move and change direction in a smooth way. Moreover, how can we not let the inside sphere rotate. The solution that we decided on for this problem is by putting bearings between the two spheres, and by letting the inside sphere heavier.