Ground Blue

Test for places
you cannot
reach yet.

Describe the hardware you want to use in space. Ground Blue identifies how low Earth orbit could affect its components and turns those risks into simulations and testable predictions.

A scientific satellite in low Earth orbit above the curved blue planet
Orbit
A wide lunar landscape with regolith, rocks, and a low rolling horizon
Moon
A wide Martian landscape with rust-red rock and distant mesas
Mars
Interactive prototype using prepared analysis cases.
Ground Blue
Fluid dispenserPrepared case 01
Mission & inputs

Configure the prepared case

Completion score i
85
CAD model Prepared
fluid-dispenser.stepSTEP · 2.4 MB
Prepared
Included components
Prepared engineering assessment

Likely workable with design changes

  1. 01
    High severityInferred

    Fluid behavior changes without buoyancy separation

    Bubble position, priming, and two-phase separation cannot rely on gravity.

    Learn concept
  2. 02
    High severityAssumed

    Electronics need a defined radiation response

    The prepared case flags reset, latch-up, and cumulative degradation risks for the controller and battery.

    Learn concept
  3. 03
    Medium severityInferred

    Exposed materials may outgas in vacuum

    Deposits from tubing or seals could change optical transmission at the window.

    Learn concept
Why testing is difficult

Orbit changes how hardware behaves.

A device can work on a bench and still fail in orbit. The challenge is not one extreme condition, but several interacting conditions acting over time on a specific design.

All four conditions act on the same device.Their effects can combine inside one connected system.
  1. 01VacuumOutgassing and heat transfer
  2. 02Thermal cyclingExpansion and fatigue
  3. 03RadiationDose and single-event faults
  4. 04MicrogravityFluids and particles
One hardware system
MaterialsElectronicsFluids + interfaces

A weakness in one layer can change how the others behave.

  1. 01

    Vacuum

    Materials can outgas, lubricants can migrate, and heat can no longer leave through convection.

  2. 02

    Thermal cycling

    Repeated transitions between sunlight and shadow expand, contract, and fatigue connected materials.

  3. 03

    Radiation

    Electronics face cumulative damage and sudden faults that are difficult to reproduce as one laboratory test.

  4. 04

    Microgravity

    Fluids, bubbles, particles, and heat move differently when gravity no longer dominates their behavior.