Prometheus CET Design
Samuel, Chulmin, William
NASA has asked us to create a simple design for an Crew Emergency Transport (CET)
Our choices
Energy
For our energy source we decided to choose Hydrogen fuel cells because that is what NASA uses today to create backup energy for the ISS. We also choose this energy source because it is much more compact than solar power, and much more efficient than Nuclear energy. Hydrogen fuel does not give off radiation and is not as fragile as solar panels, the only byproduct is water.
Module design
For our module design we choose the capsule design because it is smaller than a shuttle, and it can re-enter the atmosphere and land on water and still float while shuttles have to land on a runway. This design is also what NASA used to get astronauts back to earth safely in the Apollo missions. Capsules are also much more cost effective than shuttles, because Emergency transports will be used once and not more. This means that creating a much more expensive emergency transport will be useless because of the waste of money.
Design of the module interior
The interior has a center fuel system that is housed in a cylinder in the center of the transport, this means that the hydrogen and fuel cells will protected from heat and damage. The astronauts will enter through a hatch at the top of the transport and then sit down in chairs at an angle to better protect their bodies from damage when landing. Computers are attached to the wall and have a pre determined course to land in the closest large body of water. Parachutes are warped around the entrance hatch underneath heat shielding. This gives the parachutes a protective covering, and when they need to deploy they will protect the craft when landing.