These towering models captivate students, space enthusiasts and dreamers alike. They provide the ideal visual aids to bring complex physics and astronomy concepts alive.
This contractor’s model depicts a proposed spacecraft design that rotates to simulate gravity, helping a crew adjust to Mars’ 1/3 Earth gravity after their long voyage and lessen the negative side effects of prolonged weightlessness.
Life-Sized Models
Models (also called scale models) are small replicas made of wood or plastic that depict real-life objects in miniature form. Scale models tend to be smaller than their real-life counterparts, providing opportunities for greater detail, interior lighting effects, animation features and interior animation features such as interior lights. Different objects such as vehicles (railroad trains, cars, trucks, military vehicles, airplanes and spacecraft), buildings, people and science fiction themes such as aliens or fictional starships may all be represented on models; for instance a life-size resin model of human lungs with removable lobes displays all major veins and arteries and was used on television shows as an educational aid and inspiration to teach about human lungs workings – such as depicting all major organs such as those inside one another!
Educational Powerhouses
Students working in small teams should form engineering challenges by designing spacecrafts capable of withstanding Mercury or Venus’ harsh environment and collecting valuable planet data for as long as possible.
Inform students that a spacecraft requires multiple components for proper operation, including its body to house instruments, solar panels to collect energy, communications equipment for sending information back home, propulsion system for helping move around in orbit, radiation-hardened parts to protect electronics and propulsion system for maintaining propulsion in orbit.
CubeSat satellites, student-built satellites built from kits costing between $5,000 and $10,000 to construct. Students can add features like cameras, navigation systems and communications capabilities for their models – these have proven particularly helpful to scientists studying lunar crater formation.
Cultural Landmarks
Space modelers may construct their models from scratch using scale drawings or purchase plastic kits from Revell; some models may simply be collected for aesthetic or educational or research reasons.
As part of the construction phase of a satellite, a Qualification Model is constructed to test its performance under extreme conditions. A Structural and Thermal Model may also be built to ensure all subsystems work as planned.
This finely detailed model recreates Apollo 11’s historic first manned lunar landing. It includes an authentic Lunar Module, figures of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as well as photographic and scientific equipment as well as a display base molded to simulate the surface of the moon – as well as collector cards!
Artistry at its Finest
Assembling monumental structures – whether that be an exact model of the International Space Station or a Saturn V rocket – requires both artistry and engineering expertise. These monumental creations typically take months or years to finish; builders consult blueprints, photographs and work closely with space agencies to make sure each detail is perfect.
An example is how a spacecraft’s communication subsystem utilizes models of antenna gain patterns, signal attenuation and modulation processes to transmit data efficiently over its optimal bandwidth. Such models provide crucial situational awareness about cross-subsystem effects like communication link quality or power limits onboard.
Unfortunately, no comprehensive spacecraft simulation architecture that integrates these models across core subsystems exists yet; thus limiting our ability to develop autonomous onboard capabilities capable of responding autonomously in time-critical or constrained scenarios.
Technology Revolutions
Since the dawn of spaceflight, government-led human space activities have given way to private actors driven by innovation and risk taking to change the industry. This transformation is being led by bold individuals taking bold risks that transform industries.
Entrepreneurs have taken notice of technology components from disparate sectors and combined them into innovative satellites that are smaller, faster and cheaper than what had previously been available. Such small satellites could revolutionize communication systems while improving living conditions on Earth.
Lockheed-Martin and Boeing aim to develop rockets that can be reused like airplanes that fly back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean, but Elon Musk has bigger dreams: landing people on Mars!