Project Ceres Ep. 4 – Making Good Life Choices

As this project draws to an end, I will be reflecting on various aspects of our project and assessing how smoothly it went.

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Problem Definition

Our problem definition/statement was:

A team of astronauts need a form of transportation that is able to efficiently cover a minimum round trip distance of 5km from point A to point B. This form of transportation must be able to overcome the 3% Earth gravity of Ceres, below -105°C temperatures, rocky terrain and make the most of its limited power sources.

I believe this statement was clear and did not cause any confusion whilst building our vehicle.

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Establishing Norms

Organizational Norms

Before we started planning our project or brainstorming ideas for our prototype, the first thing we did was set up a plan and communication system. We created a text message group since it was the easiest thing to do. We also shared our strengths and weaknesses so that we could work on things we were better at and enjoyed more, which allowed our project to progress more smoothly.

Communication Norms

As mentioned in my previous norm, setting up a reliable communication system was one of the first things my group decided on. We had a text message group chat that we used for sharing photos, videos, data, and ideas. We also communicated with people when we needed help, whether that be teachers or other students. We reached out to classmates who were skilled in specific areas, like 3D modeling, and also sought out teachers who specialized in something we were curious about.

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The Plan

I think we had a clear plan. At the start of the project, before building anything, we all communicated together and discussed what type of vehicle we wanted to make and what role each person should play. I do wish we had left more margin for error, as we didn’t plan any backup solutions in this phase. Instead, we had to figure them out later while building the prototype, which threw us off track at times and wasted a lot of time.

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Time Management

Overall, I think we used our time effectively. Towards the end of our project, we realized some of our original electronics plans were too ambitious, so we had to revert to simpler electronics. That planning and rethinking took up valuable time, which led to a more simplified testing process. In the end, our project was finished one class late, which I am still satisfied with.

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What To Do When Things Go Sideways

Not everything went as expected in this project. We had to rethink our electronics plan when we were almost ready to test, which delayed us significantly. We also had issues with certain vehicle parts being 3D-printed incorrectly, requiring adjustments. To address these issues, we simplified our original plans. We cut out components that were taking too much time and carefully considered whether we actually needed certain parts of our vehicle or specific electronics. We removed as much as possible when we ran into trouble so that we could still test the bare minimum and get the data we needed.

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AI Transparency Statement

AI tools were used for spellchecking purposes.