Triggered Aerodynamic Resistance and Drag by Increase in Surface:

UMD NearSpace Proof-of-Concept Re-Entry Payload

Benjamin Brotzman - brotzman@umd.edu

Science, Discovery, and the UniverseAerospace Engineering

The goal of the University of Maryland Balloon Payload Program is to provide

easy access to “near-space” for students who cannot afford a launch vehicle.

The “Triggered Aerodynamic Resistance and Drag by Increase in Surface” or

TARDIS payload for short is a project of the program dedicated to designing and

testing potential deployable re-entry heatshields for cubesats.

Cubesats are very useful thanks to their compactness and cost-effectiveness. However, they are non-recoverable

above certain altitudes due to atmospheric heating through friction

during re-entry. By designing a collapsible heatshield, future cubesats

will retain the compactness that makes them popular and will also be

recoverable for better science acquisition and reusability.

Project Background

Up-to-date CAD model of the TARDIS Payload. Note the umbrella-like heatshield design

University of Maryland Space Systems Lab

MDSGC Balloon Payload Program

University of Maryland Manufacturing Building

8197 Regents Dr, College Park, MD 20740

Location

I am a member of the electronics team. While I am relatively new to the project,

from the beginning I was entrusted with various important tasks such as

soldering sensors to designing and wiring circuits for the payload.

I used a program known as Autodesk EAGLE to design the circuit schematic

for the payload using a pinout sheet created by the electronics team as a

whole as a reference. This was the most important part of what I did on the

TARDIS team as the placement of the wires and sensors was essentially determined by me. If there was

something that I left out, things could go wrong.

Activities

I’d like to thank my mentor Derek Whittle, the TARDIS Team, UMD NearSpace, Dr.

Bowden, Dr. Peel, and the scholars community for supporting me throughout

this process

Acknowledgements

TARDIS Circuit Schematic

The work that has been done through the TARDIS group will one day allow for

better access to space for students, amatuers, and scientists alike. Our

progress has even been noticed by Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX.

As for me, I learned what it meant to be on an engineering team. I learned about serial communication, how to effectively solder, how to design a schematic and so much more. I hope this internship helps propel me forwards into the Aerospace industry to places like NASA, SpaceX, or Northrop Grumman where I will able to

use the skills I learned to bring humanity closer to the stars.

Impact

This payload is planned to go through many iterations as it has already. We plan to

do drop tests from 10,000ft -> 50,000ft -> 100,00ft

before the project is finally revised to be launched on a sounding rocket

Future Work

Beginning work on actual circuit