Construction of the Space probe for NASA's Psyche Mission

Real Spacecraft
142

Hello everybody,

and lo and behold, a direct hit! I knew there was still a bit of work to be done.


Source: NASA

However, the original is a few steps too complicated to use as a template for the replica, so I’ll stick to usable views of the NASA model video, which show less detailed but feasible blanket markings.

I won’t be able to get a proper picture of the locations on my model until I’ve tried out the three-sided rod system with the blanket cover on the probe, along with the X-Band High Gain Antenna, which has to fit between the rods and takes up quite a bit of space.

As you can see from the top view of this picture, the back blanket cover isn’t a smooth wall but has a certain depth,

as one can also see here in the original.


Source: NASA

And here is the scaled depth of the rod system, which I should take into account, assuming there’s enough space on my model.

I had already considered making the blanket cover one piece and attaching it to the rods, but then I rejected that idea, although at the time I hadn’t yet realized how it would extend forward.

But before I bring back the blanket foil from under the template, I marked the corners of the blanket with pins as a precaution to better follow the outline of the back,

Which will be continued next time.

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143

Hello everybody,

now I had to think carefully about what to do next, as the whole thing turned out to be a bit more challenging than I had initially thought. And with the three-sided blanket foil nothing could go wrong because there was just too much work involved.

So, in the next step, I removed all the pins and carefully cut out the blanket, leaving folds all around so I could glue them onto the rod system. This sounds a bit confusing and complicated at first, but it makes sense.

The only difficult part was the exact fixation of the rod system on the back of the blanket, which had to match the marked tape strips on the front, which are unfortunately invisible, which is why I thought a while about a solution for a long time.

But then I had the idea! I just had to attach the blanket with the front somehow to the window pane so that the marked tape strips could be seen through the foil and then fix the rods on it with small tape strips. So much for the theory.

To make my work easier, I used tape strips to stick the blanket foil to a transparent foil,

here is a view of the front.

I then attached the transparent foil with the front of the blanket foil to the window pane with Tesa tape, then aligned the rod system on it and carefully secured them with tape strips.

On the work table, I then removed all the tape strips from the transparent foil,

and thus exposed the blanket foil with the rod system attached to it and started to glue the adhesive folds on the rod system with UHU CA,

first on the underside of the rod system, as one can see here.

And so it went on step by step.

Then I wanted to test how the fixed blanket foil would behave when the side rod systems were bent 90 degrees, for which I inserted the two rod system columns into a Balsa plate.

Since the test was successful,

I then glued all the remaining folds onto the rod system,

which completely secured the blanket foil onto the rod system.

The next step is to make a test fit of the rod system on the space probe, which I’m looking forward to.

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144

Hello everybody,

so then to the test fitting, for which the rod system was quickly attached.

After bending the sides I added side boundaries by using insect pins.

Then I added the X-Band High Gain Antenna, which just barely fits in between.

Now I still needed the blanket foil for the inside of the rods, for which I used the existing template, but it had to be slightly smaller. So I carefully marked the protruding edges, which was a tricky job.

Then I marked the rear edge of the antenna, to which the inner blanket foil must at least reach.

For the final cladding of the inside, I inserted the rod system back on the small Balsa plate and fixed the side walls,

and trimmed the edges of the template for the interior cladding.

Although I don’t have the calculated space behind the rear wall of the rod system,

I wanted to at least indicate a certain width of the blanket cladding, for which I glued in four inner struts.

With this, I can now tackle the blanket cladding on the back of the rod system. Since there are also some of those marking stripes there, as shown in the pictures, I first have to glue the blanket foil with marked tape strips, as before.

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145

Forgot all about this one !! Great to see it back on the go again ….. that looks great built up and the internal frame looks lovely.

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146

Thanks John, and Hi all,

to err is human, said the hedgehog, and stepped down from the barbed wire.

But one after another. First, I started by gluing the marked tape strips onto the blanket foil according to my template, first for the back,

and then for both sides. This continuous blanket could also have served well as the inner lining of the rod system. But that was unfortunately also the fallacy of my thinking, because that would only have been correct if I hadn’t also glued in the [color=blue]inner struts[/color] of the rod system.

But during the first fitting the scales then quickly fell from my eyes, so I’ve immediately removed the tape strips on the sides again.

Since the struts had reduced the available interior space, I also had to reconsider the clearance required for the X-Band High Gain Antenna. This allowed me to cut off the now-unnecessary side panels of the blanket foil and make various cuts along the bottom edge.

Now it can go on with the tricky task of gluing the rear rod system cover.

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147

Hello everybody,

the gluing of the inner blanket cladding was really a bit stressful and involved some tricky snipping, which I’ll want to refrain, so I’ll keep it brief and show you the result right away.

The two upper ends of the rods are also covered with blankets, on which a few details are located, such as this ‘box’, the Gamma-ray spectrometer and below it the Neutron spectrometer,


Source: NASA

which I would also like to at least hint at.

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148

Hello all,

the rod system covered with blanket foil is still missing a few small details, such as the Gamma-ray Spectrometer and the Neutron Spectrometer, as well as the two Magnetometers at the other corner,


Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory (David Oh)

which also need to be covered with blanket foil.


Source: NASA

So, first I wrapped the upper ends of the rod system with thin [color=blue]Blanket foil[/color], glued and reinforced them.

I had already painstakingly prepared the Gamma-Ray Spectrometer by scratch-building,

which I then glued to the rod system.

I then took the space probe out of the cupboard and attached the entire rod assembly for a test fit, which gives a decent overall impression,

further rounded off by the X-Band High Gain Antenna.

That’s all for today.

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