Getting hardware built is a key goal for our GLXP team.
The video embedded below shows some of the team's early work on a mock-up of the lander - a full scale and accurate representation of the current White Label Space mission design.
The lander mock-up work started in summer 2010 with a simple cardboard design, which soon after was upgraded to a stronger wooden box. Steel legs and mock-ups of the externally mounted equipment were also added in late 2010.
Work is continuing now on adding functionality to the key equipment onboard the lander and integrated testing with our Japanese rover prototype is planned for later this year (the rover appearing in the video is just a placeholder).
Adiraan Rijkens is the Media Liaison for White Label Space.
Adriaan is a Masters student studying at the Nyenrode Business Universiteit. In 2010 he completed his Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial Engineering & Management at the Professional University of Amsterdam.
Dr Jeremy Fielding is the Lead System Engineer the White Label Space lunar lander.
During his 15 years working as a system engineer in the UK aerospace and electronics sectors, Jeremy worked on numerous advanced engineering projects. Some of his more notable roles included being the lead mission systems engineer for penetrator design studies for the Jovian moons and Mars, as well as managing bids and small studies for lunar and deep space missions.
Jeremy received his PhD in 2004 from the Surrey Space Centre on the topic of Mars exploration possibilities using an airborne VTOL (VTVL) platform.
In 2008 Jeremy reached the Level-3 applicant pool of the ESA astronaut programme selection.
Our electronics partner emxys is developing a minature lightweight Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) for our mission in the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP). The video embedded below shows a prototype being demonstrated by emxys director, Francisco Garcia-de-Quiros.
The IMU will be a key component for the WLS mission, helping the lander to achieve its soft touchdown on the lunar surface. It is designed to be an accurate and reliable instrument within a minimum volume.
The target performance is to achieve a resolution better than 1º in attitude estimation with a power consumption under 1W. Its minimized mass and volume will enable small satellite missions to achieve unsurpassed attitude estimation capabilities.
The GLXP presents a fantastic technology demonstration opportunity for such technology, and emxys intends to transform the IMU into a commercial product for the space market.
Considering it's taken 13 years to bolt the International Space Station together piece by piece, it's not hard to imagine what kind of timeframe we're looking at to establish an entire working community on the Moon.
But here's a thought - can we print everything we need?
Wait, stay with me here.
What can you make with a 3D printer? Up until now, it's been mainly small items. Models, ceramics, small mass-produced components.
But several advances lately strongly suggest 3D printing will be anything but a cottage industry in the future.
In a nutshell, 3D printers work like a regular old-fashioned dot matrix printer, but instead of laying down ink, they lay down particles which build up to form an object.
Some machines start with a solid block of gel or vat of polymer and use lasers to harden it layer by layer into the shape required before washing away the excess.
A couple of years ago, a team at Bowling Green State University created a system which bonded ceramic powders into a type of clay which could be fired.
So how about a 3D printer in which it's big enough to print a brick house or a laboratory?
It certainly cuts down on lugging large amounts of materials to the Moon. Basically, we just need to transport a few tanks of polymer each trip.
Weight's not exactly an issue on the Moon. It could trundle around happily until it found a suitable site, run off off a small neighbourhood and give us a bell back on Earth when it's time to call the removalists.
"Sea of Tranquility, sir? Fine choice. Will that be hi-res or lo-res?"
Organ-printing's an interesting one that might also come in handy.
Research suggests that our bodies don't take too well to life in microgravity.
Kidney disease and urinary tract problems are among those noted in astronauts and there's an ongoing study into the possibility that bacteria are more resistant to antibiotics in space.
Instead of laying down powders, 3D printers deposit living cells onto gel structures, making the possibility of printing entire organs very real indeed.
3D printing our entire lives on the Moon? You know it makes sense.
All we need is someone who knows how to fix the paper jams.
