Subj : Astrobotic into testing of Griffin lunar lander for NASAs Artemis prog To : All From : NasaSpaceFlight Date : Wed Apr 20 2022 20:45:03 Astrobotic into testing of Griffin lunar lander for NASAs Artemis program Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2022 19:42:20 +0000 Description: Astrobotic, a Pittsburg-based lunar lander company, has fully assembled the test model for its largest The post Astrobotic into testing of Griffin lunar lander for NASAs Artemis program appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com . FULL STORY ====================================================================== Astrobotic, a Pittsburg-based lunar lander company, has fully assembled the test model for its largest lunar lander in development, the Griffin. A medium-class lander, Griffin is designed to deliver up to 625 kilograms to the lunar surface and survive for 14 days while providing communications and power to the payload if required. The fully loaded Griffin Structural Test Model (STM) weighs more than 6,000 kilograms (13,000 lb), making it the largest lunar lander since the Apollo program. The STMs deck was hollowed out from a single 12ft x 12ft aluminum sheet and has more than 2,500 bolts securing the primary structure alone, related Brandon Schoonmaker, Mechanical Systems Lead at Astrobotic during an interview with NASASpaceflight. We constructed the STM as a pathfinder activity, allowing us to try out the tools, equipment, and processes before spaceflight. The team is now gearing up for rigorous testing as they head towards Griffens inaugural launch in 2023 onboard SpaceXs Falcon Heavy . That flight will carry NASAs water hunting Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, also known as VIPER, to the Moons surface as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services for the agencys Artemis program . A Griffin lander test article for NASA VIPER rover tests. (Credit: Astrobotic) The intent [of these tests] is to test as you fly and fly as you test, said Pete Fry, Mechanical and Fluid Systems Manager at Astrobotic, in the interview with NASASpaceflight. So we want to understand the mission in as much detail as [we] possibly can. Not only the launch event but also the landing and everything in between. The environmental test campaign is a way for us to learn as much as we possibly can, improve the system as early in the mission as we can, and do that going forward. So whats exactly being tested during the environmental test? The STM will undergo static, acoustic, and vibration testing at specialized facilities which will help ensure the Griffin survives the harsh environments of launch, descent, and landing. These tests, from a structures perspective, will expose the lander to harsher conditions than will actually experience in its mission, providing the teams with additional confidence that itll perform nominally during the actual mission. Once were able to take the results of that and correlate it back to our engineering and our analysis and our design models, it just helps improve the whole mission moving forward when you do that, said Frye. Want to see a time lapse video of a spacecraft being built? We thought so. This is the Griffin Structural Test Model, clocking in at more than 13,000 lbs, and is the largest lunar lander since Apollos Lunar Module. pic.twitter.com/gynWwAffEd Astrobotic (@astrobotic) February 17, 2022 During a launch, the onboard payload experiences acoustic vibrations as sound waves from the rocket and vibrations associated with the burning of the engines. This situation is mimicked by the vibro-acoustic test, making sure the payload can survive the 150+ dB environment during the initial stages of the launch. Once up in orbit and on its way to the Moon , the lander will have to pass through an extreme radiation environment known as the Van Allen Belts . The radiation in these regions is significantly higher than in low Earth orbit or the geostationary orbit. See Also Griffin/VIPER Updates SpaceX Missions Section L2 SpaceX Section Click here to Join L2 To mitigate this, the lander is equipped with radiation protection for its avionics. These protection measures were tested by teams on the ground as well. Another important aspect is testing the thermal systems onboard the lander. Once in orbit and on the lunar surface, the environment is pretty harsh due to drastic changes in temperature between the sun-facing and sun-shade sides. On the lunar surface, the sun-facing side can range upwards of 120C (250F), while the shade is closer to -138C (-280F). The thermal testing on the ground ensures the systems onboard can absorb and radiate heat nominally, allowing the lander and its components to survive extreme temperature changes. This is tested by cycling the avionics and the entire electronic bus through a wide range of temperatures inside a large thermal vacuum chamber. Another issue specific to the Lunar payloads is lunar regolith management. During the landing sequence, especially when close to the surface, the engine kicks up lunar regoliths, resulting in fine dust being subjected to most of the equipment. This can cause issues with the egress mechanisms of the rover from its landing platform. Teams will conduct several tests to ensure the mechanisms are protected from the regolith and dont seize because of exposure to the lunar dust. The reason we test so much in the space industry is because if something breaks, you dont get a chance to fix it, added Hahna Alexander, Acting Mission Director for the Griffin-1 Mission at Astrobotic to NASASpaceflight. Once its launched, youd better hope that youve looked at all your failure modes, and your test cases, and tried to figure out if theres a way to mitigate risks, how to do that on the ground, or how to solve something on the ground. So that if something goes wrong in transit or on the surface, you can do your best to send a software update. But the spacecraft is [pretty much] on its own out there. So thats why we do so much testing. And avionics is one of the most heavily tested components of the lunar lander not only because its susceptible to thermal, radiation, and regolith effects but also because it plays a monumental role in setting the lunar lander down softly and accurately at its desired landing site. Griffin with VIPER en route to the Moon. (Credit: Astrobotic) Since there are so many tests in play for the whole electronics bus for the lander, one of its unique features is that all the components are arranged in the flat orientation to allow for easy debugging if the components fail during the testing campaign. Landing on the Moon is no small feat, having only been accomplished by top governmental organizations such as the US, Russia , and China . Teams at Astrobotic are heavily testing the Griffin-1s software to make sure they enter that same club. Frye explained how the company is testing its Hazard Detection and Avoidance System a system that maps the lunar surface when the lander is close to landing to avoid any obstacles which might render the landing spot infeasible. One test that we do is simply bolt that onto a helicopter or an aircraft and then fly over a desert-style environment. We [also] actually took it up to a particularly interesting glacier structure up in Alaska and flew that over with a drone with that same system. We can basically practice here on Earth with what that system seeing in a really complex terrain environment. Apart from this, the teams have developed a highly detailed rendering system that can see the craters at any particular spot on the Moon at any time of day or night. [Im] really proud of that system, said Fyre. Its very powerful from a [Guidance Navigation & Control] perspective just to figure out where you are when you get there, at least until some indeterminate time in the future where theres some type of GPS system around the Moon. Until then, were doing as much hardware testing and software testing as we possibly can on that. Even after testing comprehensively, landing on the Moon on the first attempt is still risky. Griffin will be landing an important rover for NASA during its inaugural mission, but Griffin-1 wont actually be Astrobotics first lunar lander. The company is all set to land a smaller lander named Peregrine first. Scheduled to launch onboard Vulcans inaugural flight, Peregrine will land on Lacus Mortis, a plain in the northeast region of the Moon. This mission will provide ample data and lessons for the teams to learn more about landing on the Moon whether they land or not. Whenever there is an opportunity to learn from Peregrine, the core Griffin team will take those lessons learned eagerly, related Alexander. Its a unique opportunity we have at Astrobotic to learn from one mission and the next. What an exciting day! Our #NASAScience and @NASA_Technology payloads have now been integrated onto @Astrobotic s Peregrine Lander. These deliveries will help us study the Moon under @NASAArtemis and pave the way for the first woman and first person of color to explore the Moon. pic.twitter.com/Qf3Dj25zEn Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) April 20, 2022 So if we can improve a system or keep it as similar as possible to reduce our work scope and try to learn from our mistakes and our successes on our first development program, we take that opportunity. I think were really lucky to have both of these programs. The teams that work on one lander often have a lot of overlap with the second and can again take those lessons learned and not have to necessarily pass them to a completely new, siloed group thats working on a different project. But developing a lunar lander is no easy task, and making it business-effective can be harder. The business case to sustain something like the Apollo program long term is staggering as far as how many people it took, how many companies and subcontractors and stuff, related Frye. So the technology is all there. Its all obviously improved since that timeframe. But to do it, and to do it in a manner that is able to support a business case is really the kind of nuanced challenge for us as a commercial entity. Most of our contracts from NASA are coming as firm-fixed-price service contracts, which means we really need to execute on time, on budget. And theres just not a lot of runway if things go wrong, added Frye. Lowering the operational cost remains the single priority for not only Astrobotic but for any commercial company setting its sights on the Moon. Cost breakdowns for commercial lunar services. (Credit: Astrobotic) Alexander added, We want to make sure were creating a commercial environment, and that means finding a market where we can deliver a product in a sort of cost-effective manner. And thats certainly very challenging in an industry that is typically quite slow-moving and somewhat expensive because of the quality of components and manufacturing and precision and just sort of new developments that are created as a result of trying to accommodate these various technical challenges. It certainly lends itself heavily to our risk posture, our programmatic decisions. And that is also incredibly challenging when you dont always have the data that you would have in most other industries to make those decisions. So whats next for Griffin? Following the completion and review of the environmental test campaign, this Griffin STM will be shipped to NASAs Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, to perform a final set of tests with the prototype of its VIPER rover . These tests will verify the egress and deployment of the rover to the lunar surface using the onboard ramps and also allow rover operators to practice operations in tandem with the Griffin lander. But Astrobotic is not the only company developing a lunar lander. Intuitive Machine is also planning to launch their first lander onboard Falcon 9 later this year, and Masten and Firefly will soon follow with their landers as well. But this is not a race between the private companies so much as it is a collective effort to get the United States back to the Moon as a part of NASAs Artemis program. Peregrine (foreground) with Griffin (background). Credit: Astrobotic) I can only speak for myself, but I think most people on the team have the same sentiment. [We] just feel really lucky to be a part of a program thats taking the US back to the Moon. Its a really exciting time to be in space, said Alexander. Frye added, It takes a whole group of people with a whole bunch of weird, nuanced skill sets that are hard to find and hard to comprehend the magnitude of the knowledge of some of the team members as well. Were really proud of the team here that we assembled here at Astrobotic, and I think it puts us in the best possible spot looking forward while this market continues to open and grow. (Lead image: Griffin and VIPER on the lunar surface. Credit: Astrobotic) The post Astrobotic into testing of Griffin lunar lander for NASAs Artemis program appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com . ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2022/04/astrobotic-griffin-lander/ --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Science News (1337:1/100) .