[EmilioM]

As for the honeycomb aluminum structure that was mentioned earlier - we tried a few iterations of the sort and were unhappy with the skin deflection that would occur at the unstrengthened portions on the panel. This foam-core design not only equally distributed those point load worries but also weighed less while minimizing deflection to an insignificant amount.

As for the dents and scratches Ross (rsilverstein) mentioned, the only negative effect those had was the loss of aesthetic appeal. Our mentor, who has a masters in material science, informed us that these dings and dents were actually GOOD for the panels as it further increased the tensile strength of the .020 aluminum facesheets which our panels heavily relied upon.