NASA L'SPACE Mission Concept Academy

Overview

The NASA L’SPACE Mission Concept Academy (MCA) is an intensive five-month program that challenges participants to design and develop a complete mission concept for Mars exploration. From May to September 2022, I served as the Thermal Systems Engineer on a 12-member interdisciplinary team tasked with designing a Mars rover mission targeting lava tube exploration.

My primary focus was on the thermal management and protection of rover systems and scientific payloads operating in the harsh Martian environment. This involved calculating heat transfer across complex rover subsystems, selecting appropriate materials for passive thermal control, and designing specialized thermal dissipation hardware to meet mission constraints.

Beyond the technical work, the program provided extensive training in critical aerospace engineering disciplines including risk management, project management, and systems engineering—all essential for developing mission-ready concepts.

Learn more about the L’SPACE program at L’SPACE.

Skill badges

Throughout the L’SPACE MCA program, I completed skill modules and earned the following badges on my final certificate, demonstrating expertise across critical aerospace engineering disciplines:

SIEMENS NX CADAdvanced 3D modeling and design with Siemens NX, including part design, assembly, and technical drawing capabilities

HEAT TRANSFERHeat transfer analysis, thermal control systems design, and material selection for space environments

SYSTEMS ENGINEERINGRequirements definition, interface management, and systems architecture for mission design

RISK MANAGEMENTRisk identification, assessment, and mitigation strategies for aerospace systems

PROJECT MANAGEMENTSchedule development, resource allocation, and program execution for complex missions

TEAMINGInterdisciplinary collaboration and team leadership on a 12-member mission design team

Siemens NX Training: Completed all four module assessments in the L’SPACE NX Skill Module, covering fundamentals through advanced CAD techniques. This training provided access to professional Siemens NX software and positioned me for the Siemens Design Associate Certification.

Files

Final Preliminary Design Review (PDR) report and presentation, and the program certificate:

FINAL PDR (PDF)FINAL PDR PRESENTATION (PDF)CERTIFICATE (PDF)