The RAVEN is an unmanned discovery class spacecraft whose mission was to approach the Wilson-Harrington comet and obtain a sample which to be returned to earth. This project was conducted by the University of Michigan AERO483 design team aerospace engineering students and faculty. The Raven project was presented for consideration of actual deployment and use in NASA's discovery program.

Dr. Howe participated on the team, and produced conceptual configuration studies, computer graphics, modeling, and drawings, as well as four animations depicting various sequences of the mission.

EARLY DESIGNS
Early designs called for a lander that would take a sample at the surface of the comet. The lander would be left on the comet with an instrument package while the sample was carried back to earth.

FINAL DESIGN
The final design used a penetrator that would be fired from a distance. After the sample is taken, the container would be reeled back into the spacecraft. Once the container holding the sample would be returned to the spacecraft, the nose cone containing scientific instruments would be jettisoned, and the spacecraft would return to earth. In earth's orbit, the sample would do a splash-down entry in a specially designed return vehicle.

Click here to view the animation of main events (4.4mb)
Click here for an Acrobat PDF file detailing the mission