Stop the tumble.
A spacecraft pushed out of a launcher is tumbling, and until that stops nothing else can happen. No pointing, no charging, no contact. Your team will try two ways of bringing the spin under control and find out that one of them makes things worse before it makes them better.
How do you stop something spinning in space, where there is nothing to push against?
Your role
Detumble systems engineer
Objective
Compare modeled detumble responses and select the damping strategy that reaches a stable state most effectively.
Success looks like
Run both responses, compare rate and settling evidence, make a justified selection, and name what real-hardware testing must still establish.
Learning outcomes · Grades 9–10
What you should be able to do, and the evidence that shows it.
- 01By the end of this mission, the learner will be able to quantify how much the peak spin differs between the two settings, and demonstrate this by reporting the difference with units.
- 02By the end of this mission, the learner will be able to model why damping removes rotation while the proportional term chases a target, and demonstrate this by relating each to the shape of the trace.
- 03By the end of this mission, the learner will be able to test whether each setting meets a stated settling time, and demonstrate this by comparing both results against that time.
Before we start
A quick check of what you already know. There is no score.
The idea behind the mission
Two runs, one difference: how hard the controller resists the motion. Same starting spin, same limit on the wheels.
Slowing something down takes the right amount of push
Too little and the spacecraft keeps turning, overshoots and wanders. Too much and it fights every movement. The setting that removes rotation is called damping, and getting it wrong does not just take longer - it can leave the spacecraft spinning faster than it started.
Predict before you run
Before you run anything: will both settings bring the spin to rest? Say what you expect and why.
Will both settings bring the spin to rest? Say what you expect and why.
At least 20 characters — say what you expect and why.
Confirm mission readiness
This is a local preparation check. It is not Challenge qualification and creates no official attempt.
- Mission objective and success criterion reviewed
- Preparation diagnostic answered
- Mission theory reviewed
- Prediction recorded
Official qualification: false. This acknowledgement stays in this browser.
Configure the mission
These are the two set-ups you will compare. They are fixed on purpose: if only one thing differs between your runs, anything that changes was caused by it.
Baseline case
Light damping
Candidate case
Strong damping
- Write your prediction first.
- Change nothing except the damping.
- These results come from a model, not from a real spacecraft.
Units stay attached to every result: angles in degrees (°), time in seconds (s), power in watts (W), energy in watt-hours (Wh), battery state in percent (%), and elevation in degrees (°) where available.
Run the Digital Twin
Run the light damping first, then the strong damping. The starting spin is the same both times.
Baseline
Light damping
Candidate
Strong damping
Run the baseline first so you have something to compare against.
Read the evidence
Follow each line from the start. Look at the highest point, not only the end.
Run the Twin to produce evidence.
Make the engineering decision
Which setting would you use, and which result in your evidence decided it?
Which damping setting do you recommend, and what evidence supports it?
What this does not prove
What this mission shows
- My prediction
- The spin comparison for the two amounts of damping
- Where each number came from
- One thing this model does not cover
What it does not establish
- These results are produced by a model. Nothing here was measured on a real spacecraft.
- The disturbances and reference directions are controlled teaching values, not an orbit-derived environment.
- This lesson does not show that any real spacecraft would stabilise this way.
Name one thing this model does not tell you about stabilising a real spacecraft.
Show what you understood
Formative feedback for you and your teacher. There is no official grade.
With too little damping, what happened to the spin before it slowed down?
Which result tells you whether the spacecraft was ready to begin its mission?
Which setting would you use, and which result decided it?
Name one thing this model does not tell you about stabilising a real spacecraft.
Reflect and complete
Completion records the work you did; it does not mean mastery, qualification, or an official grade.
What trade-off mattered most in stopping the tumble, and what hardware effect is outside this model?
At least 20 characters. Editing this or any source work after completion invalidates the local record.
Revisit the mission evidence
Formative · not an official grade
No formative evidence has been recorded yet.
Formative band: revisit. Any formative band may complete the mission. Official grade: none.
Finish the required run or comparison, select evidence, make a decision, answer the formative assessment, and complete your reflection.
Save and hand in
Keep a copy of the work stored in this browser, or send it to your teacher for review.
Finalize the mission to create a local-practice record on this device.