We spoke with student teams about their projects, what they learned through the process, and what they think could be improved.

Pressure Vessel Design for CSA
OASYS Lunar Greenhouse Project

Students – Dominik Adriany, Dylan Kipp, Veer Sambaragi, Peter Landine, Krish Arora, JP Kahlert, Usama Seifeddine.

---

1. What was the problem you were trying to solve?

In collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in accordance with the OASYS Lunar Greenhouse initiative, the goal of this project was to develop and manufacture a pressure vessel system capable of supporting plant growth systems on the Moon. This is important when it comes to supporting astronauts’ extended stay missions on the Moon.

2. Can you give us a brief overview of the Capstone project’s process?

We began by selecting an appropriate size and shape for the vessel, taking into account ease of manufacturing and integration with other systems. To address the structural challenge, we performed Finite Element Analysis (FEA) with ABAQUS to evaluate stresses within the vessel.

“This analysis allowed us to determine the required number of plies, L-beams, and bolts to secure the system, as well as to optimize the vessel’s wall thickness. We then fabricated the vessel using composite materials through a vacuum bagging process and subjected it to load testing to assess structural integrity. Initial testing confirmed adequate strength for the intended pressure loads.“

3. Looking back on your experience, what would you have done differently?

In our case, we slightly overspent on the administrative aspects at the beginning, which required us to make some compromises on materials and manufacturing down the road. Despite this challenge, the experience was highly valuable for our team, and more importantly, we successfully delivered a working prototype.

4. Where do you see this project going next?

Overall, the project successfully demonstrated the feasibility of designing and manufacturing a high-strength pressure vessel for lunar greenhouse applications. Future work will include continuing on finishing the prototype and performing non-destructive testing (NDI) methods to detect internal flaws.

---

Developing Nafion 212 Membrane
Treatment Procedure in Redox Flow Batteries

Students – Karisma Jutla, Nattan Telmer, Emma Xiong, George Lin, Tony Yang, Harry Liu, Vivian Chen

---

1. What was the problem you were trying to solve?

Our project focused on ion exchange membranes used in electrochemical cells, which are essential in batteries. These membranes need to allow ions to pass through while keeping electrons separated. We aimed to investigate whether pretreatment of membranes could enhance performance.

Specifically, we looked into cleaning and reusing membranes to evaluate how this affects degradation (fade rate), with a goal of improving battery testing and promoting sustainability.

2. Can you give a brief overview of the Capstone project’s process?

We tested two cleaning solution concentrations and found no significant difference between them. We observed that as temperature increased, permeability decreased, which is detrimental for battery life. However, conductivity improved between 20-40°C, which is beneficial.

3. What would you have done differently? 

One major challenge was the lack of existing literature on our specific testing methods, which led to a lot of trial and error, especially for measuring permeability accurately. We had to develop and refine our own method to ensure reliable results. If we had more time, we would have focused on optimizing the membrane cleaned at 40°C, as it showed the best performance. We also would have tested different cleaning solutions to further enhance the results.

4. What were some of the proud moments that you could share?

Many of our results matched our expectations, showing that our testing and retesting methods were reliable. It was rewarding to see both new findings and confirmation of our hypotheses.