L'SPACE NPWEE — Team 10: Forged in Orbit

NPWEENASA L'SPACE Proposal Writing and Evaluation Experience—a 15-week academy focused on authoring and peer-reviewing NASA-aligned technology proposals Team 10 targeted solid-state in-situ metallurgical reconstitution via autonomous cold welding. As Lead Systems EngineerThe engineer responsible for integrating subsystem inputs, managing interfaces, and maintaining requirements traceability across the vehicle, every engineer on the team answered to me—including Engineer 1The first engineering role on the team hierarchy, reporting directly to the Lead Systems Engineer Justin Schueler—while I coordinated with PM Alexis Gallardo and Chief Scientist Riya Jain on programmatic and science integration.

My first weeks were literature immersion: ASTROBEATISS experiment heritage on in-orbit repair and materials behavior in vacuum, NTRSNASA Technical Reports Server—agency archive of technical papers and experimental data, and materials compatibility across austenitic stainless, aluminum, and copper alloys from −183 °C to +137 °C.

I derived quantitative KPPsKey Performance Parameters—measurable thresholds that define whether a technology meets mission needs, including 100 MPa pressure, 10 kN force, and ≥80 MPa shear strength, and authored the performance specifications in our Technical Research Memorandum. Engineer 1 Justin Schueler and PI Joel Bhattarai pushed every number back to a source.

The proposal had to align to the NASA Technology TaxonomyNASA's structured classification of technology areas—our work mapped to entries like TX4.3.3, TX4.6.1, TX12.4.1, TX12.4.6. That framing turned a materials research thread into a fundable infusion story.

I lead-authored L-MAP-FILunar Multi-Agent Pathfinding and Forecasting Interface—a research concept for autonomous lunar reconnaissance swarms with predictive environmental modeling, a multi-agent pathfinding and environmental forecasting framework for lunar reconnaissance swarms. Validation ran through ROS2/GazeboROS 2 middleware plus Gazebo physics simulator—standard robotics stack for algorithmic testing before field deployment and Fusion 360 FEAFinite element analysis inside Autodesk Fusion 360 to stress-test mechanical concepts computationally.

The comparative analysis claimed 70× coverage and 160× cost efficiency versus state-of-the-art baselines—claims I had to defend with explicit assumptions about swarm size, traverse rate, and communication latency. Simulation is only as honest as the environment model.

Alongside L-MAP-FI I designed a vacuum-test research protocol for weld-parameter characterization—bridging the gap between paper KPPs and something a bench experiment could actually measure.

Final weeks merged writing and integration. I co-authored the quad-chart portfolioNASA-standard four-panel visual summary of a technology concept—problem, approach, benefits, and maturation path covering tripartite lunar ISRU concepts: oxide-scrubbing cold-weld reclamation, ultrasonic vacuum dust ejection, and triboelectric autonomous transport—with comparative cost analysis (including ~94% cost reduction vs. TIG welding for one thread).

Serving on Review Panel #6A structured NASA peer-evaluation panel where students score competing teams' proposals using agency review criteria meant switching hats from author to evaluator. I scored proposals from Teams 16–18 on technical merit, feasibility, and alignment—painful but instructive when you have just finished your own submission.

Team 10: Forged in Orbit closed with a completed NPWEE certificate and a final proposal package I could walk through as systems lead: cold-welding physics, autonomous repair architecture, and the simulation evidence behind L-MAP-FI.