As NASA pushes forward with its mission to the Moon, Mars and beyond, the development of cutting-edge tech is critical to success. In its latest study, the US-based space agency has revealed a stunning concept for a mid-sized lander capable of delivering a lunar rover to the Moon’s polar regions.
With ever-increasing emphasis on lunar exploration and scientific investigation, the desire to deliver a wide variety of payloads to the Moon is growing.
This lander was designed with simplicity in mind to deliver a 300kg rover to a lunar pole
NASA’s Logan Kennedy
For NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which is leading the effort, this is no new concept.
NASA has already awarded commercial contracts for payload delivery to the lunar surface, and expects to establish commercial partnerships to support imminent Moon missions.
Several of these payloads will require vehicles capable of exploring the environment of outer space, such as a rover, to achieve their scientific objectives.
To prepare for these missions, NASA has conducted a number of studies to identify and examine the technologies needed not only to reach and gather data from the Moon.
These studies have led to important developmental efforts in areas such as advanced propulsion, navigation, communication, landing and other critical lander subsystems.
NASA has now unveiled an eye-catching concept for a mid-sized lander able to deliver a rover to the polar regions of the Moon.
This design focuses on demonstrating an accurate, large payload lunar landing vehicle, as well as maximising the mass delivered to Earth’s natural satellite.
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Logan Kennedy, the project’s lead systems engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, said: “This lander was designed with simplicity in mind to deliver a 300kg rover to a lunar pole.
“We used single string systems, minimal mechanisms and existing technology to reduce complexity, though advancements in precision landing were planned to avoid hazards and to benefit rover operations.
“We keep the rover alive through transit and landing so it can go do its job.”
Multiple NASA field centres contributed to this complex effort, the results of which are captured in a technical paper available to the public on the NASA Technical Reports Server.
As NASA turns to commercial partners to send scientific instruments and eventually astronauts to the Moon’s surface, commercial companies will benefit from work NASA has already done.
Mr Kennedy added: “As robotic lunar landers grow to accommodate larger payloads, simple but high-performing landers with a contiguous payload volume will be needed.
“This concept was developed by a diverse team of people over many years and meets that need.
“We hope that other lander designers can benefit from our work.”
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