With the Artemis Mission approaching and inspired by recent research at NASA and other leading universities, our capstone project aimed to develop a lightweight, retractable boom for lunar exploration. The goal for the final product is be light and compact when being transported to the moon, as well as easily deployable on the lunar surface to elevate lighting and communications equipment high off the ground.

The technical challenges of this project were immense with many conflicting/competing objectives. The boom had to be sufficiently stiff against buckling and vibrations, yet compliant enough to deform for stowage. It must also be strong enough to withstand significant deformation. The most unique aspect of the project is creating a large carbon composite structural component which is also flexible.

Over the course of 20 weeks, our team explored the design space using MATLAB scripts to guide us to a preliminary design. Following this, we used ABAQUS CAE to analyze the structural behavior during stowage and deployment to finalize the design. Along the way, small physical prototypes were constructed to verify and support our analysis. A full-size composite prototype was constructed and we collected data to validate the design.

While not everything was smooth along the way, it was a unique learning experience and we are proud of our results and findings.