UROP Project

Digital Twin Development for Space Propulsion Enabling Sustained Human Exploration of Mars

Space Propulsion Digital Modeling

Research Mentor: Ryan Gosse,
Department, College, Affiliation: Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Contact Email: rgosse@eng.famu.fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: College of Engineering Majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 8, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

• Day: Wednesday, September 3
  Start Time: 1:00
  End Time: 1:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/98879438003
• Day: Friday, September 5
  Start Time: 2:00
  End Time: 2:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/94323132004

Project Description

Recent NASA NIAC grant was conducted to develop a new class of space propulsion that could be a significant enabler for sustained human exploration of Mars (https://www.nasa.gov/general/new-class-of-bimodal-ntp-nep-with-a-wave-rotor-topping-cycle-enabling-fast-transit-to-mars/). Due to the unique properties of the propulsion concept research is required to understand how best to integrate it into a spacecraft and and mission planning. This project will focus on developing a digital twin environment to enable research of the systems integration and mission performance. Models will be developed at the systems level allowing for a new undergraduate to start with the basics of spacecraft design and grow during their undergraduate education. The project will also focus on the NVIDA Omniverse digital design framework along with other NVIDIA AI/ML capabilities.

Research Tasks: - Develop the skills for making digital twins using the NVIDIA Omniverse environment. (https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/glossary/digital-twin/)
- Create documents for how to develop digital twin models in the NVIDIA Omniverse environment to be used by other students.
- Develop systems level models of spacecraft subcomponents and the interfaces between other models.
- Due to the nature of the research students can select specific spacecraft subsystems and focus on researching how to build the subsystem model and integrate it into the full digital twin model.
- During out years of the program they will use completed spacecraft models to conduct research developing mission studies similar to those conducted by NASA but through the developed digital twin environment. (https://tinyurl.com/sjf5aah6) (https://tinyurl.com/ywzek3jk)

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Recommended experience with Python programing language and Linux operating systems.