Yunus Sorgunçay
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Competition

Mars Space Mission Design

Led an 11-member multidisciplinary team (İTÜ Team PYROEIS) for the 2024-2025 AIAA Undergraduate Team Space Design Competition. We designed a comprehensive Earth-to-Mars orbiter mission specifically tailored for atmospheric wind profiling.

Systems EngineeringTeam LeadershipAerospace
Feb 2025 — Jun 2025
View Report
Mars Space Mission Design Presentation by Team PYROEIS

Advisor

Prof. Dr. Alim Rüstem AslanIstanbul Technical University - Project Advisor and Lecturer for the Spacecraft Systems Design II course.

Team Members

Problem & Context

While previous missions provided insights into the Martian climate, comprehensive wind vector measurements in the lower Martian atmosphere are still lacking. Our challenge was to design a fully functional Mars orbiter within a $1 billion budget cap, integrated with a Doppler Wind LIDAR to capture spatial and seasonal wind dynamics, providing critical planning data for future Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) missions.

Accomplishments

  • Coordinated an 11-member multi-disciplinary engineering team to design a complete mission architecture from launch to Mars orbit insertion (MOI).
  • Integrated an adapted ALADIN Doppler Wind LIDAR instrument into the custom spacecraft bus design, balancing mass, thermal, power, and communication constraints.
  • Conducted rigorous spacecraft subsystem-level trade studies, including AOCS (Attitude and Orbit Control System) sensor selection, thermal nodal analysis, and link budget calculations.

Gained Experience

  • Developed strong leadership and project management skills while balancing performance, cost, and risk in a high-pressure environment.
  • Gained hands-on expertise in systems engineering, mission architecture, and subsystem integration.
  • Acquired the ability to translate scientific goals into actionable technical requirements and formal spacecraft documentation.

References

For additional references, please see the full project report.