PARSEC - ECHO - Human Lander Challenge
Faculty Mentor Name
Siwei Fan, Ron Madler
Format Preference
Poster
Abstract
The Professional Association of Research for Space Engineering Concepts (PARSEC), is a student organization dedicated to research and design projects that focus on advanced space concepts. PARSEC's year-long projects help its members learn and gain experience with the engineering project life cycle. PARSEC's members work to develop concepts, perform research, and create prototypes, like with this year's project ECHO. While in orbit, spacecraft propellant cannot reliably be measured without the use of an acceleration burn to move the propellant to one side of the tank. When a small difference in propellant mass can result in a mission being aborted, using an acceleration burn is an inefficient method for tracking propellant on lo ng duration missions. PARSEC aims to implement the use of electrical capacitance with the Electrical Capacitance to High-resolution Observation (ECHO) system. By using electrodes to measure the impedance of electric fields as they travel through the tank, ECHO will develop a 3D rendering of the propellant in the tank and track propellant continuously without wasting fuel. ECHO will integrate both machine learning and unique electrode architectures to reduce the uncertainty in propellant readings and provide continuous propellant measurements. With machine learning, the uncertainties in the measurements can be reduced by training algorithms to compensate for regions with low accuracy.
PARSEC - ECHO - Human Lander Challenge
The Professional Association of Research for Space Engineering Concepts (PARSEC), is a student organization dedicated to research and design projects that focus on advanced space concepts. PARSEC's year-long projects help its members learn and gain experience with the engineering project life cycle. PARSEC's members work to develop concepts, perform research, and create prototypes, like with this year's project ECHO. While in orbit, spacecraft propellant cannot reliably be measured without the use of an acceleration burn to move the propellant to one side of the tank. When a small difference in propellant mass can result in a mission being aborted, using an acceleration burn is an inefficient method for tracking propellant on lo ng duration missions. PARSEC aims to implement the use of electrical capacitance with the Electrical Capacitance to High-resolution Observation (ECHO) system. By using electrodes to measure the impedance of electric fields as they travel through the tank, ECHO will develop a 3D rendering of the propellant in the tank and track propellant continuously without wasting fuel. ECHO will integrate both machine learning and unique electrode architectures to reduce the uncertainty in propellant readings and provide continuous propellant measurements. With machine learning, the uncertainties in the measurements can be reduced by training algorithms to compensate for regions with low accuracy.
