[FPSPACE] Pittsburgh, PA firm aims for lunar contract to build moon rocket pad

[Peter Pesavento]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09063/952880-115.stm

 

(also an illustration of a concept of a lunar soil shoveler)

 

Robot firm aims for contract to build lunar launch pad

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

By David Templeton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 

A Pittsburgh robotics company, already competing for the Google Lunar X
Prize, is making future plans for robots -- hopefully its own -- to build
NASA's first lunar launch pad and landing site.

Astrobotic Technology Inc., an Oakland-based company led by renowned
Carnegie Mellon University roboticist William "Red" Whittaker, has announced
its strategy to use robots to build a moon pad at one of the moon's poles.

With technical assistance from CMU's Robotics Institute, Astrobotic
presented its strategy Friday during a NASA Lunar Surface Systems conference
co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its Space Enterprise
Council in Washington, D.C.

The pad is scheduled for completion in 2020.

The key challenge is protecting people, their habitats and equipment from
moon dust, which will be sent flying at sandblasting speeds during moon
landings and takeoffs.

Astrobotic's plan calls for two robots, and possibly a third for standby, to
work around the clock for almost six months to build a berm to prevent dust
or regolith from traveling at high speeds in low gravity and sandblasting
the outpost.

A second option calls for robots to construct a rock-lined launch pad so
landings and blastoffs do not disturb dust. But that option depends on
whether enough rocks exist within a reasonable distance from the moon's
poles.

"For efficient cargo transfer, the landing site needs to be close to the
outpost's crew quarters and laboratories," Dr. Whittaker said. "Each rocket
landing and takeoff, however, will accelerate lunar grit outwards from the
pad. With no atmosphere to slow it down, the dry soil would sandblast the
outpost."

Robots already on the drawing board will shovel moon dirt or gather rocks
into bins, then transport the payload for use in building a berm or a pad.

If NASA chooses the first option, lawn-mower-sized robotic rovers weighing
330 pounds each could build an 8.5-foot-high berm in a 160-foot semicircle
in fewer than six months. That project would require the robots to move 2.6
million pounds of lunar dirt.

According to the second option, small robots would comb the lunar soil for
rocks to be used to pave a durable grit-free landing pad, said John Kohut,
Astrobotic's chief executive officer. "This might reduce the need to build
protective berms."

Before such decisions are made, robotic scouting missions are necessary to
gather more details. Researchers also must determine how much force, and how
much energy, is needed to dig lunar soil.

"We need to get more data about lunar soil at the polar areas -- how easy it
is to scrape up and collect and how abundant rocks are at the poles," David
Gump, Astrobotic president, said. "Right now, we and NASA are making some
pretty gross assumptions."

Moon dust -- a fine, spiky, self-cohesive dust formed by micrometeoric
impacts on the moon -- represents the bane of lunar exploration. Human
landings already have proven that moon dust readily penetrates and could
threaten operation of equipment.

"The biggest technical challenge that we will face is protecting ourselves
against the very fine moon dust," Mr. Gump said. "You must seal your motors,
your axles and any joints."

Astrobotic and CMU officials, with their longstanding experience in building
robots for difficult terrains, are interested in producing the robots for
the NASA project once more information is gathered.

"We are positioning ourselves to be the first robotic picks and shovels to
build NASA's first lunar base," Mr. Gump said.

Details of the study and lunar imagery are available at
www.astrobotictech.com.

Dr. Whittaker also is leading Astrobotic in developing its first lunar
robot, which has been undergoing field trials for months. The company's goal
is to win the $20 million Google Lunar X prize by sending a robot to the
Apollo 11 landing site and transmitting high-definition video back to Earth.
That project is scheduled for liftoff in December 2010.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon walk in July, Astrobotic
plans a series of news conferences to demonstrate its prototype lunar
robots.

 

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