Spacecraft Design

Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite. (Psalm 147:5)

Spacecraft are very challenging to design due to the stressful launch environment (where vibrations loads are immense) and the harsh environment of space (where there are extreme temperatures, heavy radiation, a lack of pressure and harmful meteorites). Spacecraft design is the pinnacle of man-made technology, yet it is still simple compared to design in the natural world. In the same way that a spacecraft must be purposefully designed, so I believe the natural world has been purposefully designed by a Designer of infinite wisdom. Complex design does not happen by chance.

EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITES

I designed the solar array deployment system for the following four earth observation spacecraft (with launch date):

• Envisat   (2002)
• Metop A (2006)
• Metop B (2012)
• Metop C (2018)

These four spacecraft have a value of about $5 billion. Envisat was the world’s largest solar array (14m x 5m) on an earth observation satellite at the time of launch. I designed a special gearbox for Envisat and Metop called a double-action worm gearset which has a world patent and received two national design awards.

HUBBLE TELESCOPE AND SKYLARK ROCKET

I also worked on the Hubble Space Telescope and the Skylark Rocket. I even spent some time working on military satellites.

See below for pictures: