# Project Charter — ASTERION FCTA-1

## 1. Purpose

Create a technically defensible spacecraft engineering demonstrator that showcases Siemens NX and ANSYS capability while remaining feasible for one person using a home PC.

## 2. Problem statement

Conventional launch vehicles are optimised around high-thrust ascent from planetary surfaces. Long-duration spacecraft face different constraints: power, heat rejection, radiation, maintainability, low-thrust trajectory design, human factors, structural flexibility, and orbital assembly. ASTERION explores a modular vehicle that separates launch, in-space transit, habitation, and atmospheric operations.

## 3. Engineering thesis

A spacecraft can become more mission-flexible by using:

- Orbital assembly rather than launching as one monolithic vehicle.
- Replaceable propulsion and power modules.
- Electric propulsion for efficient long-duration transfer.
- Counter-rotating habitation rings for partial artificial gravity.
- Large deployable thermal-control surfaces.
- A detachable aeronautical vehicle for atmospheric studies.
- Open interfaces, modular digital models, and traceable verification.

## 4. Scope

### Included

- Mission-independent conceptual architecture.
- Parametric Siemens NX master model.
- Spacecraft primary structure and mechanisms.
- Lifting-body Skimmer aeroshuttle.
- NX CAM studies for selected parts.
- ANSYS structural, dynamic, thermal, and CFD analyses.
- Hand-calculation validation.
- Open-source documentation and neutral CAD exports.
- Physical scale model or mechanism demonstrator.
- GitHub Pages project viewer.

### Excluded from Version 1.0

- Faster-than-light travel.
- Reactionless propulsion.
- Full nuclear-reactor design.
- Human-rating or certification claims.
- Full chemically reacting hypersonic re-entry CFD.
- Detailed orbital trajectory optimisation for every destination.
- Flight-ready avionics or life-support certification.

## 5. Success criteria

- A stable NX top-down assembly with no unresolved hard clashes.
- A controlled parameter set and documented interfaces.
- At least six validated ANSYS studies.
- Mesh-sensitivity evidence for critical analyses.
- At least four representative NX CAM workflows.
- A complete set of public neutral files and engineering documentation.
- A final design review showing requirements traceability and limitations.

## 6. Stakeholders

- Project owner and lead engineer.
- Open-source engineering community.
- Recruiters and technical reviewers.
- Students and independent aerospace learners.

## 7. Primary deliverables

- NX master model and subsystem CAD.
- Neutral CAD exports.
- Engineering drawings and BOM.
- ANSYS models, settings, result summaries, and convergence studies.
- CAM setup sheets and toolpath evidence.
- Python validation scripts.
- Final report and interactive project website.
