Destiny module exhibit

The brief asked for an exhibit of the Destiny laboratory module at Hobby Airport. A module about fourteen feet in diameter has to pass through seven-foot doors, so the whole design had to come apart.

• End cones split into four interlocking sections of layered plywood
• Interior corridor walls on hinges that fold flat for transport
• A base platform of wood and sheet metal, light enough to move and stiff enough to carry the tube
• A Southern Yellow Pine truss system in four segments that keeps the shape round and carries eight touchscreens
• A bolted aluminum outer shell, HVAC, and wheelchair access through the corridor

I modeled it in Autodesk Inventor and presented it at a Preliminary Design Review and a Critical Design Review with NASA HUNCH mentors, then revised the design based on their feedback.

We built a detailed scale model between October 2021 and February 2022, with a ribbed clear shell, interior panels and a fan base for airflow. We had 50 minutes of class a day, and both of us got COVID partway through, so we started coming in before school. Some of the build photos are timestamped 6:47 a.m.

It was my first project with constraints I didn't choose and a schedule that fell apart halfway through. It is the project that made me want to study engineering.