Three Project-Based Approaches to Spacecraft Design Education

In order to provide a realistic, hands-on educational experience for spacecraft design students, three complimentary project-based spacecraft design activities have been developed. These design programs are similar given that each relies on simplicity, speed, and selfsufficiency. These attributes 1) allow students to understand the full technical design of a spacecraft system, 2) expose students to the full developmental lifecycle, and 3) introduce students to the challenges of managing a team in order to engineer a complete system. The programs differ in their fidelity and comprehensiveness in order to provide a spectrum of approaches from which educators may select based upon their resources. This paper discusses the educational objectives of these project-based spacecraft design programs. It also reviews the specific design guidelines and strategies for each. Finally, it presents 5 years of results from previous and ongoing projects, and it presents future educational enhancements and spacecraft missions.