TO: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

JULIAN DAVE ROLEA

FROM: Superman, project manager

SUBJECT: PROPOSAL FOR USAGE OF STRUCTURAL HEALTH

MONITORING IN AEROSPACE DEVICES.

DATE: 04/01/2021

Purpose
The purpose of this proposal is to request authorization for the research and test of Structural
Health Monitoring in aerospace vehicles and devices in order to determine if this will help
decrease repair times and easily locate structural damage that is difficult to see.

Introduction
On April 1st, 2021, the Chief Executive Officer of Rolea Industries, Julian Dave Rolea, requested
that my team of engineers figure out a way to faster detect structural abnormalities in the
company’s spacecrafts.
Rolea Industries is a company that primarily focuses on space exploration and discovery. Many
things can go wrong when launching a new mission as well as along the way to the destination,
and you may need to make emergency repairs at any point in time. This is where SHM
(Structural Health Monitoring) comes in. SHM allows the crew, whether manned or unmanned,
to quickly pinpoint the damage and repair it.
The only alternative to using SHM is to locate the damaged area manually, using your eyes or
cameras. This is highly inefficient because you must physically search for the area, this may not
even be an option for damage that cannot be seen.
The implementation of SHM into our company’s spacecrafts could end up saving money by
raising each mission’s success rate. SHM could also end up saving lives on manned missions to
other planets.

Proposed Tasks
Task 1: Survey people about their thoughts on SHM
Conduct surveys in and outside Rolea Industries. Ask if people would be more willing to go on
manned missions if our spacecrafts had SHM, and if they believe that SHM would increase the
likelihood of mission accomplishment.
Task 2: Understand how this system would work in a spacecraft
We need to test the system on any kind of spacecraft. By creating even just part of a spacecraft
and implementing the system, we can damage the spacecraft and see how quickly and accurately
the SHM system responds. Based on these tests we can refine the system to where it notifies the
manned crew as well as the people at HQ almost instantly.
Task 3: Conduct a larger test
The next step would be to conduct a live test and launch an unmanned spacecraft that uses the
system. Using the system, we can hopefully make repairs at HQ using remote control robots
equipped with repair tools.

Schedule

Tasks  Completion of Tasks (by weeks)

Task 1: Survey people about their thoughts on SHM

Task 2: Understand how this system would work in a

spacecraft

Task 3: Conduct a larger test

Task 4: Prepare report

Start of Week 11th 18t 25th 9t 16th 23rd

h h

Month April May

Employees
Superman is the lead engineer who will be directing the tests and writing reports. Superman’s
doppelganger #1 is a team member who will work out the kinks in the system as well as leading
the research. Superman’s doppelganger #2 is the second team member who will assist #1 with
working out the kinks as well as the research.

Works Cited
Brand, Steven. 6 Emerging Aerospace Technologies You'll Want to Know About.

www.cmtc.com/blog/emerging-aerospace-technologies.

Modic, Elizabeth Engler. “Structural Health Monitoring.” Aerospace Manufacturing and Design,

Aerospace Manufacturing and Design, 19 Nov. 2014,

www.aerospacemanufacturinganddesign.com/article/amd1114-structural-health-

monitoring-sensors/.

Pearson, M R, et al. “IOPscience.” Journal of Physics: Conference Series, IOP Publishing, 22

Aug. 2012, iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/382/1/012025/meta.

“Structural Health Monitoring.” Structural Health Monitoring - an Overview | ScienceDirect

Topics, www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/structural-health-monitoring.

Yuan, Fuh-Gwo. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) in Aerospace Structures. Elsevier,

Woodhead Publishing, 2016.