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Spacecraft Design Research Pack
This is the information pack you can use to help design your
spacecraft.
In this pack there are lists of possible materials, structures and
ideas to consider.
Spacecraft Design Research Pack
Improvements that could be made on your spacecraft:
 Lowering the cost of space flight primarily means reducing weight. Each
pound trimmed is a pound that won't need propulsion to escape from Earth's
gravity. Lighter spaceships can have smaller, more efficient engines and less
fuel. This, in turn, saves more weight, creating a beneficial spiral of weight
savings and cost reduction.
 The hatch that astronauts used to enter and exit the spaceship must be easy
to open and close while wearing their space suits.
You could also consider this thought process in the design of your spacecraft:
Spacecraft Design Research Pack
The shape of your spacecraft is also important as it needs to easily fly through the
air, acting against gravity.
(Drag is friction in the air and thrust is the upward
push on the rocket)
Spacecraft Design Research Pack
Here is a list of some materials that could be used to build your spacecraft, you do
not have to mention these in your plan but they are provided if you would like to use
them.
Material
Advantages
Disadvantages
Fibreglass
Very lightweight
Can be moulded into complex shapes
Low density, good strength.
Weldeable, easily workable
Cheap and widely available
Higher stiffness, good specific strength
Doesn’t have a high strength
and has a low melting point.
Aluminium
Magnesium
Titanium
Light weight with high specific
strength
Stiff than aluminium
Corrosion resistant
High temperature capability
Stainless Steel
High strength
High rigidity and hardness
Corrosion resistant
High temperature resistance
Cheap
Many applications in spacecraft despite
high density (screws, bolts are all
mostly steel).
Stiffest naturally occurring material
Low density
High strength
High temperature tolerance
Beryllium
Less workable than
aluminium.
Is chemically active and
requires a surface coating
(making it more expensive to
produce).
Not as stiff as steel
More brittle (less ductile)
than aluminium/steel.
Lower availability
Less workable than
aluminium (6 times more
expensive than stainless
steel).
Used for pressure tanks,
fuels tanks, high speed
vehicle skins.
Expensive and difficult to
work
Toxic (corrosive to tissue
and carcinogenic)
Spacecraft Design Research Pack
Planet
Information
A year on Mercury is just 88 days long.
Mercury has wrinkles: As the iron core of the planet cooled and contracted,
the surface of the planet became wrinkled.
MERCURY
Mercury is the most cratered planet in the Solar System. Unlike many other
planets which “self-heal” through natural geological processes, the surface of
Mercury is covered in craters. These are caused by numerous encounters
with asteroids and comets.
After the Earth, Mercury is the second densest planet. Despite its small size,
Mercury is very dense because it is composed mainly of heavy metals and
rock
A day on Venus lasts longer than a year.
VENUS
Atmospheric pressure on Venus is 92 times greater than the Earth’s. While its
size and mass are similar to Earth, the small asteroids are crushed when
entering its atmosphere, meaning no small craters lie on the surface of the
planet. The pressure felt by a human on the surface would be equivalent to
that experienced deep beneath the sea on Earth.
Pieces of Mars have fallen to Earth. Scientists have found tiny traces of
Martian atmosphere within meteorites violently ejected from Mars.
MARS
There are signs of liquid water on Mars. Mars has been known to have water
in the form of ice. The first signs of trickling water are dark stripes or stains
on crater wall and cliffs seen in satellite images.
In the next 20-40 million years Mars’ largest moon, Phobos, will be torn apart
by gravitational forces- creating a ring that could last up to 100 million years.
Jupiter has the shortest day of all the planets. It turns on its axis once every
9 hours and 55 minutes.
The upper atmosphere of Jupiter is divided into cloud belts and zones. They
JUPITER
SATURN
are made primarily of ammonia crystals, sulphur. Jupiter’s interior is made of
rock, metal, and hydrogen compounds. Below Jupiter’s massive atmosphere
(which is made primarily of hydrogen), there are layers of compressed
hydrogen gas, liquid metallic hydrogen, and a core of ice, rock, and metals.
Saturn can be seen with the naked eye. It is the fifth brightest object in the
solar system. Saturn has the most extensive rings in the solar system. The
Saturnian rings are made mostly of chunks of ice. The rings stretch out more
than 120,700 km from the planet, but are amazingly thin: only about 20
Spacecraft Design Research Pack
meters thick.
Saturn has 150 moons and smaller moonlets. All are frozen worlds. The
largest moons are Titan and Rhea. Enceladus appears to have an ocean below
its frozen surface.
Uranus is often referred to as an “ice giant” planet. Like the other gas giants,
URANUS
it has a hydrogen upper layer, which has helium mixed in. Below that is an icy
“mantle, which surrounds a rock and ice core. The upper atmosphere is made
of water, ammonia and the methane ice crystals that give the planet its pale
blue colour.
Uranus hits the coldest temperatures of any planet: With minimum
atmospheric temperature of -224°C. Uranus is nearly coldest planet in the
solar system.
NEPTUNE
Neptune spins on its axis very rapidly. Its equatorial clouds take 18 hours to
make one rotation. This is because Neptune is not solid body. The
atmosphere of Neptune is made of hydrogen and helium, with some methane.
The methane absorbs red light, which makes the planet appear a lovely blue.
High, thin clouds drift in the upper atmosphere.
Neptune has a very active climate. Large storms whirl through its upper
atmosphere, and high-speed winds track around the planet at up 600 meters
per second. One of the largest storms ever seen was recorded in 1989. It was
called the Great Dark Spot. It lasted about five years.