The instrument, developed by NASA and KASI, was validated in 2019 with a high altitude weather balloon. I joined a small team at Wallops Flight Facility to bring this instrument to space. As a structural engineer, my first challenge was to design a gimbal structure stiff enough to handle the rigors of launch.

I iterated between design (SOLIDWORKS) and analysis (FEMAP) to quickly converge on stiff, lightweight, and machinable structures for the azimuth and elevation gimbal frames. To minimize assembly complexity and tolerance stackup, I designed each frame to be machined from a single block of aluminum into delicate truss shapes with thin curved ribs. These frame components are seen in the videos below (the light-weighting effort is obscured by blanketing).

The structures met their modal requirements only if both drive axes were locked securely in place. I developed a novel launch lock integrating a non-explosive actuator with a spring-loaded swing arm and a cup-cone interface. Careful material selection, tolerancing, and spring geometry ensured a successful release. The bottom left video shows one of these locks firing after ISS install.

I developed, built and tested a bumper mechanism to limit shock transmission to the ISS platform in the event of a runaway motor. I also designed GSE lifting slings for all stages of assembly and transport.

CODEX entered service in late 2024 and returns 500 images per day.