Tag Archives: NASA

Progression of a NASA Spacecraft Model

The following pictorial shows the progression of a NASA spacecraft model build:

 

From the NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission  website:

“The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission is a Solar Terrestrial Probes mission comprising four identically instrumented spacecraft that will use Earth’s magnetosphere as a laboratory to study the microphysics of three fundamental plasma processes: magnetic reconnection, energetic particle acceleration, and turbulence. These processes occur in all astrophysical plasma systems but can be studied in situ only in our solar system and most efficiently only in Earth’s magnetosphere, where they control the dynamics of the geospace environment and play an important role in the processes known as ‘space weather.'”

NASA Spacecraft Model

KiwiMill recently shipped out a spacecraft model of  the  Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. This is a NASA launch set for 2014, where 4 identical spacecraft will be sent in a capsule to probe Earth’s magnetosphere. http://mms.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

 

 

The cone of the model was vacuum formed and laser cut ribs were later added to the inside. On the outside of the cone, ribbed sheet stock was used. The solar panels are decals. The 4 spacecraft housed inside the cone were molded and cast out of resin, complete with their instruments.