SpaceIL Privately-Funded Lunar Lander On Way to Moon

Former Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP) competitor, and Israeli nonprofit, SpaceIL has launched a (largely) privately funded spacecraft to land on the Moon. See Space.com article.

The total budget for the mission is estimated at US$95 million. 

Funding for the mission has predominantly been from private donations, most notably from Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn and American philanthropist Sheldon Adelson. The team has also attracted support from the Israeli Space Agency (ISA) and a number of aerospace companies and research institutions in Israel. The SpaceIL team was founded as a nonprofit organization wishing to promote scientific and technological education in Israel. 

The photo below shows their beautiful spacecraft named Beresheet.

The Beresheet Robotic Lunar Lander (credit SpaceIL)

After dozens of other fundraising approaches were attempted by the various GLXP competitors around the world, it is interesting and impressive to see SpaceIL succeed through their model which combines national prestige and an education-oriented nonprofit foundation.

The team's precise plans beyond this first mission are yet to be clearly articulated but the company that led the development and integration of their lander, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), has already announced a partnership with the German space company OHB System to offer the commercial delivery of payloads to the lunar surface for the European Space Agency (ESA). Under the agreement, IAI will handle integration of payloads onto the lander and be responsible for launch arrangements. OHB will be the prime contractor for those missions, managing work with ESA and payload developers.

Although the Beresheet mission comes too late to claim the Google Lunar XPRIZE prize money, it undoubtably represents a fantastic achievement of the prize's main goal, namely to stimulate new commercially-viable models for lunar exploration.

The Beresheet mission is sure to kick off a wave of similar small lunar surface missions with substantial commercial involvement in the coming years. We look forward to seeing other GLXP teams, and their spin-offs like our very own ispace, achieve lunar surface access in the not too distant future.

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Tethered Flight Test 1

A short duration hovering test hop was conducted.

Objectives for the test were:

1.  Test the ground, flight command and data logging systems. 
2.  Demonstrate that the vehicle has sufficient thrust to actually liftoff. 
3.  Record orientation data to see how the IMU coped with the flight

All objectives were successfully achieved.

The photo below shows the vehicle at the point of lift off. Video will be posted shortly.

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Any Day Now

This photo shows the lander prototype suspended from its support frame. Just a few minor steps are needed before its first hovering test! 

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First Hovering Test Soon

Our prototype hovering rocket vehicle is almost ready and the first tethered test could take place any day now.

Note that the vehicle doesn't have any legs yet since it will be fully suspended by tethers for the complete duration of the test.

This prototype vehicle uses pulse modulated monopropellant thrusters.

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Flying Soon at a Rocket Range Near You

Our first hovering rocket vehicle is starting to take shape. This photo shows some of the pieces positioned as they will be on the finished product.

The propulsion system will use three pulse-modulated thrusters running on monopropellant hydrogen peroxide. The project will give the White Label Space team valuable experience in designing and operating rocket vehicles, thus accumulating know-how that will later be used to develop our moon lander.

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First Integration Steps for Rocket Motor Prototype

This video shows some of the preliminary integration activities for the throttleable rocket motor prototype currently being developed for the White Label Space lunar lander. It is a liquid bi-propellant motor using nitrous oxide and kerosene. It also features a spark ignition system.

The motor will be commercialized by the Dutch company EDL Hypersystems B.V..

Lander Drop Test 1

The White Label Space engineering team conducted a first proof-of-concept test of a new concept for impact absorbing legs. Making best use of available hardware, the team integrated the new trial leg assembly on the existing mock-up of the lander. A sensor system was used to measure accelerations during the drop.

Lander Structural Model - CFRP Panels

The White Label Space GLXP Team is preparing a Structural Model of its lunar lander using Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) sandwich panels provided by the team's partner Airborne Composites.

This video shows some of the early development work;
1) a technical meeting to discuss the options for joining the panels
2) the machining of the panels
3) unpacking of the panels at the team's HQ

Quadrotor GNC Testbed - Test 1

Dhanushka Liyanage, Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) engineer for White Label Space, has constructed a quadrotor vehicle as a testbed for GNC algorithms that will be used on the lander for our Google Lunar X PRIZE mission.

This video shows a test with manual manipulations of the quadrotor thrust levels. Dhanushka is now working on the basic flight control algorithms to achieve sustained hovering.

Short Firing Test of Development Motor

More progress from the White Label Space propulsion team - this video shows a short firing test of a development motor, a stepping stone towards the engine that will eventually power our lunar lander.

Hydrogen Peroxide vs Nitrous Oxide

For our GLXP lunar lander's main engine we have been closely investigating designs with two possible oxidizers - hydrogen peroxide and nitrous oxide.

First and foremost these propellants are non-toxic and thus are more desirable from the safety point of view compared to the toxic ones typically used for government financed lunar spacecraft. The additional safety coming from non-toxics reduces the development time and costs, making the development feasible for our small team which has only limited finances.

Secondly, both these propellants can be used in mono-propellant mode by passing them through a catalyst pack (here nitrous has the small disadvantage of requiring pre-heating for its catalyst pack). The specific impulse in monopropellant mode is not terrific so we have selected a bi-propellant system for the main lander engine, combing the oxidizer with a kerosene-type fuel. However, the monopropellant mode is quite useful for secondary thrusters for attitude control, which don't require high specific impulse, or for a deep throttling mode of the main engine that might be useful for the final touchdown when the lander's mass is low.

Both the oxidizers have a long heritage in both professional and amateur rocketry so there is lots of information available for guiding the design process. Indeed, we have already complete preliminary designs for engines of both types. However, there is one more factor that is very important for our thinking - the availability.

It turns out that there are virtually no suppliers of rocket grade hydrogen peroxide in the world, and those that do exist are notoriously unwilling to cooperate with small companies involved in rocket development. Some small rocketry groups using hydrogen peroxide choose to manufacture the propellant in-house, which is a relatively simple process but presents significant risks and requires dedicated facilities for production and storage, taking it beyond the reach of our team. Thus, for some time now we have been scouring the world for suppliers, and so far didn't succeed. (If anybody knows a supplier willing to cooperate with GLXP teams, please send us an email.)

Unlike hydrogen peroxide, the availability of nitrous oxide presents no difficulties. It is widely used across many industries, is cheap, and can be shipped almost anywhere when needed.

Another oxidizer option that is frequently discussed is liquid oxygen. This is non-toxic and relatively easy to handle as well as giving great performance. However, we rule out liquid oxygen due to the uncertainties in thermal conditions that will be encountered during out mission, which make it impossible to accurately and reliably predict the boil-off fraction. Also we consider the development of a space-qualified re-condensor system as not realistic given the timeframe and finances available.

As a result of the above considerations we have selected nitrous oxide for our first prototype rocket motor, which we plan to demonstrate in the fourth quarter of this year.

The main downsides of nitrous oxide are its requirement for pre-heated catalyst (if a monopropellant mode is used) and its vapor phase transition behavior, which give extra complication compared to hydrogen peroxide. For these reasons, we plan to keep the option open to go back to hydrogen peroxide later if the availability issue can be solved.

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Video - Discussions on Lander Prototype

This technical meeting of the White Label Space engineering team was held on the 19th of May 2011. The discussions were led by Dr Jeremy Fielding, the lead system engineer for the lander, and centered on the question of what should be the next steps after the successful demonstration of the lander mock-up at the Rio Tinto field trials. During the video the team can be seen setting up the lander mock-up to assist the discussions.

Marco Ostini Talks about Lunar Numbat Throttle Controller

In this video interview Marco Ostini gives some insight into why Lunar Numbat chose to partner with Google Lunar X PRIZE team White Label Space.

He also gives details and on the great work that his team are doing with the Australian Space Research Institute (ASRI) that also benefits White Label Space's Google Lunar X PRIZE mission.

Luke Weston LCA2011 Talk Online

As we posted earlier, Luke Weston from our open source partner Lunar Numbat recently gave a talk at lac2011 (the Linux of Australasia).

You can now watch his complete talk online at this link.

During his talk Luke gave an update on some of Lunar Numbat's ongoing developments, and in particular, his latest progress on the throttle control avionics and radar altimeter.

Lunar Numbat is currently developing hardware for AUSROC 2.5, a sounding rocket of the Australian Space Research Institute (ASRI). After demonstrating the designs on the rocket, space-qualified versions will be developed for use on the White Label Space lunar lander.

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GLXP Lander Mock-Up Construction Video

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).

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emxys Developing Minature Intertial Measurement Unit

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.

Lander Thermal Design and Analysis

The White Label Space engineering team has started the design and analysis of the thermal subsystem for our our Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) lander. Since the lander will operate as a telecommunications relay for the rover, both the lander and the rover must be capable of withstanding the high temperature environment of the lunar day.

Starting from the design outlined in our Mission Concept Summary document, our specialists Martin Lemmens and Michiel Vullings are defining the external surface optical properties needed to maintain the lander's internal equipment within the required operating limits. To analyse the thermal performance of candidate designs, the team is constructing radiative equilibirum models such as as the one shown in the picure below.

This early model includes only the hexagonal body of the lander and a deployable solar array. The lander is offset above a simulated lunar surface.

Following the same approach that was used in NASA's (Lunar) Surveyor missions, the solar array is actuated about one axis. By controlling the roll angle of the lander at the time of touchdown, the rotation axis will point either north or south, and thus it is possible to point the solar array directly at the sun for the complete lunar day.

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