Motiv Space Systems

Motiv Space Systems is a Robotics company with a focus in space exploration, innovation, and automation. I first interned at Motiv in April 2023, which transitioned into a full time role from July 2023 to February 2024. Unfortunately, the threats of US Government Shutdowns resulted in a large cut in NASA funding, the primary source of funding and projects for Motiv as a company as a whole.

At Motiv, I provided general mechanical design support as an intern for the NASA Mars Capture, Containment, and Return System (CCRS) Mission, for which Motiv was responsible for designing a Robotic Gantry. During this time, I designed and procured a full assembly to qualify the life of a lead screw and a custom designed "Spherical" Oldham Coupling that allowed freedom in three degrees of freedom.*

Upon taking a full time position, I transitioned into the lead harnessing engineer for the CCRS program at Motiv. While in this role, I redesigned the existing harness and designed new bulkheads, clamps, flex cable, and round wire to comply with JPL specifications. By the end of the program, I removed 30% of the total harnessing mass from the Gantry and designed the harnessing to transform the failing load/deflection requirements so that they pass (from as bad as 300% negative margins to a minimum 50% positive margins)*. I successfully presented my work to a JPL board at the conclusion of the program on January 18-19, 2024 in the form of a modified Preliminary Design Review (PDR), as the program was cut short of a full Critical Design Review (CDR) slated for the Spring of 2024.

Within CCRS, me and the Motiv team worked on the central 2 DOF Robotic Gantry. The below images are provided by NASA publications regarding the entirety of the Mars CCRS Mission; however, these were published in June 2023 and do not reflect the majority of the work done to bring this project to a close.*