Rapid Mission Concept Development at the 2019 Caltech Space Challenge: A Small Lander Network Studying the Habitability of Enceladus

The 2019 Caltech Space Challenge was a one-week intensive mission proposal challenge that brought an international group of 32 post-secondary students from various disciplines to design multi-lander mission concepts for Enceladus.The students were divided intotwo competing teams of 16, Team Voyager and Team Explorer. In this paper, Team Voyager describes their process and challenges in conceptualizing the winning mission proposal (SILENUS) of an orbiter andanetwork of landers.The final mission architecture proposes a mission where the science data return lasts just over one year andsends an orbitingsatellite housing science instrumentation to Enceladus, dropping off four penetrating seismometers to the surface of the icy moon. In our paper, we provide anoverview of our high-level mission design, an analysis of team structure and dynamics, the resources utilized by theteamsto assist with mission conception, as well as the challenges and learning outcomes of the weekas a framework for future rapid mission concept development.