EASEL

Individual Entry for: NASA Experiment Attachment System (EAS) Challenge A higher intelligence (whether from NASA or not, I can’t tell) is summoning the Earth community to solve a 3D puzzle. I was inspired. Down the line, I figured it out, though the journey seems all uphill. Touchdown! The last piece has landed! I guess… This is EASEL, which “stands” for Experiment-Attachment Stackable and Engineered Lego-set. (Forgive me of the word play, but this “easel” is not for a lunar portrait masterpiece but portrays as the masterpiece itself.) The kit basically consists of two stack shapes, a zigzag main frame and a triangular brace, and components for attachment pins. Furthermore, it has multiple framing configurations: It may consist of at least three pieces of only the zigzag frames—enough for diminutive experiments—and can be stabilized further by a maximum of six zigzag frames plus two triangular braces, for a total of eight rigid links for the most stable configuration primed for serious conditions. Some pins and studs can be screwed and attached already to the frames before launch or can all be screwed and snapped-on onboard ISS. Yet, to obtain the most compact stacked package, only the outer framein a given stack has pins and studs already attached. Aside from being stackable, one great advantage of its modularity is that it can be assembled with a variety of material configuration, as exemplified later. Yet, in this way, the astronaut will only grab either of the two basic components with less interpolation and can figure out a given attachment system. The pin assemblies are of stainless steel (SS). The zigzag frames are of SS, aluminum (Al) and ABS. The triangular braces and studs are of SS and Al. For the most rigid framing configuration, an all-steel EAS assembly is needed. On-ground aquatic framing experiments can be performed before launch to choose the best material configuration for a given ISS experiment that uses the attachment, whether an all-steel config