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SO-LEV�Sub-Orbital Lunar Excursion Vehicle

David Bacher

dbacher@usc.edu

December 14, 2021

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Context

[2]

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Concept of Operations

Delivery of Initial Payload

Swap Out Payload

Refuel

Suborbital Mission

[3]

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CLPS Timeline

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CLPS Providers

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Long Distance Transportation

Sea of Tranquility

Shackleton Crater

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Shackleton Crater to Sea of Tranquility

  • Distance: 2740 km
  • Delta-V: 3.06 km/s
  • Time of Flight: 27 minutes

[4]

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Arial Reconnaissance

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Access to Hard-to-Reach Areas

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  • LLO Velocity: 2 km/s
  • 10 km hop velocity: 150 m/s

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Search and Rescue

The Artemis Accords, Section 6: Emergency Assistance

“The Signatories commit to taking all reasonable efforts to render necessary assistance to personnel in outer space who are in distress, and acknowledge their obligations under the Rescue and Return Agreement”

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Swappable Payloads

  • Most CLPS landers are already designed for configurable payloads
    • e.g. Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lander

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Refueling

  • Near term: swappable or strap-on fuel tanks by humans or autonomous
  • Long term: autonomous refueling stations fill the vehicle’s onboard tanks

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Navigation

  • Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)
    • Measures orientation
  • LiDAR
    • Measures range and altitude
  • Optical Camera
    • Measures position using terrain relative navigation
  • Could be autonomous, teleoperated, or piloted depending on the mission

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Technology Demonstrations

Micro-Nova (2022)

Demonstrate suborbital flight capability

[5]

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Technology Demonstrations

Artemis III (2025)

Demonstrate CLPS lander refuel and reuse

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Technology Demonstrations

Future Artemis Mission

Demonstrate manned suborbital flights using the Artemis HLS

[8]

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Future Studies

  • Propellant manufacturing on the surface of the Moon

  • Design and location of lunar refueling stations

  • Operations for safely exploring craters and other hazardous locations

  • Human factors investigation of a manned suborbital vehicle

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References

[1]

“a_sustained_lunar_presence_nspc_report4220final.pdf.” Accessed: Nov. 30, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/a_sustained_lunar_presence_nspc_report4220final.pdf

[2]

G. Daines, “Commercial Lunar Payload Services,” NASA, Mar. 14, 2019. http://www.nasa.gov/content/commercial-lunar-payload-services (accessed Nov. 30, 2021).

[3]

“Griffin Lander,” Astrobotic Technology. https://www.astrobotic.com/lunar-delivery/landers/griffin-lander/ (accessed Nov. 30, 2021).

[4]

H. David, “Hop’s Blog: Travel on airless worlds,” Hop’s Blog, Jun. 17, 2014. https://hopsblog-hop.blogspot.com/2014/06/travel-on-airless-worlds.html (accessed Nov. 30, 2021).

[5]

I. Machines, “Intuitive Machines and NASA Finalize Contract for Extreme Lunar Mobility Spacecraft,” Intuitive Machines, Jul. 21, 2021. https://www.intuitivemachines.com/post/intuitive-machines-and-nasa-finalize-contract-for-extreme-lunar-mobility-spacecraft (accessed Dec. 13, 2021).

[6]

“Intuitive Machines’ first lunar lander mission slips to 2022,” SpaceNews, Apr. 28, 2021. https://spacenews.com/intuitive-machines-first-lunar-lander-mission-slips-to-2022/ (accessed Dec. 12, 2021).

[7]

“karcz-red_dragon-nac-2011-10-29-1.pdf.” Accessed: Nov. 30, 2021. [Online]. Available: http://digitalvideo.8m.net/SpaceX/RedDragon/karcz-red_dragon-nac-2011-10-29-1.pdf

[8]

S. Clark, “NASA identifies risks in SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander proposal – Spaceflight Now.” https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/05/01/nasa-identifies-risks-in-spacexs-starship-lunar-lander-proposal/ (accessed Dec. 13, 2021).

[9]

A. E. Johnson and J. F. Montgomery, “Overview of Terrain Relative Navigation Approaches for Precise Lunar Landing,” in 2008 IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, MT, USA, Mar. 2008, pp. 1–10. doi: 10.1109/AERO.2008.4526302.

[10]

“Peregrine-Payload-Users-Guide.pdf.” Accessed: Nov. 30, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.astrobotic.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Peregrine-Payload-Users-Guide.pdf

[11]

E. J. Speyerer and M. S. Robinson, “Persistently illuminated regions at the lunar poles: Ideal sites for future exploration,” Icarus, vol. 222, no. 1, pp. 122–136, Jan. 2013, doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2012.10.010.

[12]

“Six climbers flown off Mount Rainier after rockfall; one fatality.” https://dispatchnews.com/Content/News/News/Article/Six-climbers-flown-off-Mount-Rainier-after-rockfall-one-fatality/26/337/4283 (accessed Dec. 12, 2021).

[13]

“The Space Review: Where will Artemis 3 land? And when?” https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4031/1 (accessed Dec. 13, 2021).