As part of NASA’s Artemis program, NASA intends to construct the Lunar Gateway space station in a near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) about the L2 Lagrange point of the Earth-Moon system in the near future. Gateway will help facilitate astronaut landings on the surface of the Moon and support numerous scientific endeavors. One of these scientific endeavors is FARSIDE. FARSIDE is a radio telescope array concept that will be deployed on the surface of the far side of the moon. Because of this, FARSIDE will require an orbiter, such as Gateway, to act as a communication relay to be able to communicate with ground stations on Earth. This thesis analyzes how the Lunar Gateway space station can assist FARSIDE with its communication with Earth and how unintentionally scattered radio signals from FARSIDE could affect the telescope’s astronomical observations. It provides insight into the optimal deployment latitude on the lunar surface for FARSIDE. The thesis first begins with a literature review of the circular restricted three body problem (CR3BP) and halo orbit calculations. This is followed by an analysis of an example halo orbit for the distance, elevation angle, and azimuth angle it has viewed from two possible sites for FARSIDE over one period of its trajectory. Using this same approach, an analysis of the Lunar Gateway’s NRHO trajectory over one year was performed along with an analysis of the scattered radio flux from ground stations on Earth and the flux leakage from Gateway. Three different possible deployment latitudes for FARSIDE were investigated: the equator, 30 degrees, and -30 degrees. The analysis in this thesis ultimately showed that a deployment latitude below the equator would be the preferable choice to maximize the visibility of Lunar Gateway from FARSIDE considering the geometry of the Lunar Gateway’s orbit.

Dr. Ivan Ermanoski has been working towards creating a thermochemical reactor for the purposes of hydrogen production for several years. After testing the initial design, there were found to be several areas in which possible improvements could be made. It is the purpose of this thesis project to look over the shortcomings of the previous reactor design and make improvements. The primary focus of these improvements centers around increasing the heat retention of the reactor, with a secondary focus on improving the workability and ease of construction for the reactor.

The objectives of this project are to design a statically determinant load cell mechanism for a prototype tow tank ultimately culminating in the testing of the aerodynamic performance of a Formula One racing car model. This paper also serves as a proof of concept for force data collection for a full-sized tow tank being developed by Isabella All [8]. The project includes the design and construction of the load cell mechanism which utilizes a load cell to measure the force in a specific member of the mechanism which is then used to determine the semi-lift and drag forces for a given test model. For this specific project, a model of the front-end of an F1 racing car was used for data collection and analysis. It was found that for a short period of time within each test run, constant force data was able to be collected from the load cell which could then be transformed into semi-lift and drag force data. Ultimately, the drag coefficient acting on the model was found to be in the range of 0.9 to 1.3 which somewhat falls in line with the estimated values of 0.7 to 1.0 [1] for F1 racing vehicles. Although the final data collected may not be entirely accurate due to errors discussed in the paper, the ideas presented in this project can be fully realized with some minor changes and adjustments.

This report describes the findings of an experiment designed to explore the nature of human hearing using binaural sound. The experiment also set out to determine a way to accurately find positional data from sound. Binaural recordings were made of high frequency sounds at various angles and the data was postprocessed to find the group delay and difference of intensity between the two channels. To do this, two methods were used. The first relied on manually analyzing the data by visually looking for the points of interest. The second method used a MATLAB program to scan the data for the points of interest by using a Fourier analysis. It was determined that while the first method has the potential to provide better results it is impractical and not representative of how human hearing works. The second method was far more efficient and demonstrated the reliance of human hearing on the difference of intensities. It was determined that through the use of the second method accurate positional data could be obtained by comparing the differences with experimental data.

The objective of this report is to discover a skyhook’s ability to change the plane of another spacecraft’s orbit while ensuring that each vehicle’s orbital energy remains constant. Skyhooks are a proposed momentum exchange device in which a tether is attached to a counterweight at one end and at the other, a capturing device intended to intercept rendezvousing spacecraft. Trigonometric velocity vector relations, along with objective comparisons to traditionally proposed uses for skyhooks and gravity-assist maneuvers were responsible for the ultimate parameterization of the proposed energy neutral maneuver. From this methodology, it was determined that a spacecraft’s initial relative velocity vector must be perpendicular to, and rotated about the skyhook’s total velocity vector if it is to benefit from an energy neutral plane change maneuver. A quaternion was used to model the rotation of the incoming spacecraft’s relative velocity vector. The potential post-maneuver spacecraft orbits vary in their inclinations depending on the ratio between the skyhook and spacecraft’s total velocities at the point of rendezvous as defined by the parameter called the alpha criterion. For many cases, the proposed maneuver will serve as a desirable alternative to currently practiced propulsive plane change methods because it does not costly require a substantial amount of propellant. The proposed maneuver is also more accessible than alternative methods that involve gravity-assist and aerodynamic forces. Additionally, by avoiding orbital degradation through the achievement of unchanging total orbital energy, the skyhook will be able to continually and self-sustainably provide plane changes to any spacecraft that belong to orbits that abide by the identified parameters.

As a result of the increase of pollution related to industrialization in Vietnam, acid rain has become a prevalent issue for Vietnamese farmers who are forced to rinse their crops – risking damage due to overwatering and poor harvest. Thus, the team was motivated to develop a solution to harmful impacts of acidic rainwater by creating a system with the ability to capture rainwater and determine its level of acidity in order to optimize the crop watering process, and promote productive crops. By conducting preliminary research on rainfall and tropical climate in Vietnam, existing products on the market, and pH sensors for monitoring and device material, the team was able to design a number of devices to collect, store, and measure the pH of rainwater. After developing a number of initial design requirements based on the needs of the farmers, a final prototype was developed using the best aspects of each initial design. Tests were conducted with varying structural and aqueous materials to represent a broad range of environmental conditions. While the scope of the project was ultimately limited to prototyping purposes, the principles explored throughout this thesis project can successfully be applied to a fully-functioning production model available for commercial use on Vietnamese farms. Given more time for development, improvements would be made in the extent of materials tested, and the configuration of electronics and data acquisition, in order to further optimize the process of determining rainwater acidity.