Like to Drive on the Moon?

White Label Space GLXP team is giving you the chance to remotely drive a rover on the Moon!

Check out this video message from Simon O'Reilly for more details, and don't forget to Like us on facebook!

 

Testing of Panel Edge Insert Joint

A quick (and dirty) test was carried out by the White Label Space team to get a feeling for the strength of the insert joint located at the side of a piece of scrap CFRP sandwich panel. The insert survived the maximum applied static load of about 1.5kN. Without the appropriate test equipment to hand, the team decided to use an innovative 'dynamic' test technique to take the joint all the way up to its rupture load. This test proved that the low-cost technique used make this joint is suitable for the lunar lander Structural Model that the White Label Space GLXP team is currently developing.

Lander Drop Tests 2 and 3

Continuing to refine the procedures for drop tests, the White Label Space lander design team conducted these additional tests. The crush length results for these single axis drop tests are now quite repeatable and efforts are now focussed on optimizing the video recording parameters to get maximum temporal resolution and image quality during the drop.

Tokyo Press Conference - Behind the Scenes

This video takes a look behind the scenes at the White Label Space Japan team's preparations for the high profile Rover Prototype Press Conference held in August 2011. The video (mostly in Japanese but with some English) includes interviews with the key team members responsible for the event and shows how they each contributed to making it a success.

Rover Experiments on Izu Oshima

This video shows rover field tests in Izu Oshima, a volcanic island about 100km south of Tokyo. The testing was carried out by White Label Space's Japan team in cooperation with Tohoku University Space Robotics Lab.

Cameras

It just wouldn't be as fun sending a spaceship to the moon if we couldn't have a look around with it once it's there. Also we wouldn't be able to meet the requirements of the GLXP either, so the Lander and Rover will both be equipped with cameras. The Lander's camera can operate both in still image mode and in video mode at 10 to 15 frames per second. It is mounted on an arm extending from the side of the Lander between the two egress ramps. It will be used to film the descent of the spacecraft to the moon as well as the Rover as it disembarks from the Lander and begins its lunar journey.

The Rover's camera can also capture still images as well as video footage. It will be used to film the journey across the moon and capture the high definition footage of the lunar surface which must be beamed back to Earth to complete the GLXP mission. White Label Space intends to use commercially available, rugged cameras which will be subjected to a full space-qualification program. The team is currently looking for industrial partners to provide the cameras used on the mission. This would be yet another one-of-a-kind marketing opportunity for any interested companies as the cameras used to capture the first images from the moon's surface for over 40 years will surely gain world-wide exposure. No pun intended!

Preparations on Leg Assembly and Panel Joints

This video shows some work on the carbon fibre leg assembly in preparation for Drop Test #2 and an experiment on a novel type of insert for joining together the carbon fibre honeycomb panels of the lander structural model. Looking for cheap, quick solutions that give almost similar performance to traditional methods, White Label Space GLXP team is continuing to seek low-cost techniques for the lander design.

White Label Space Teams up with EarthSpace!

White Label Space has finalised a new partnership with EarthSpace, a research and implementation organisation with interests in space exploration, satellite applications, climate change and sustainable energy. EarthSpace and White Label Space will coordinate efforts to promote the EarthSpace mission to inspire students to pursue scientific careers and to help them and the general public to recognize the relationship between scientific and non-scientific fields through an Earth and Space Exploration paradigm. White Label Space will cooperate with EarthSpace to facilitate participatory space exploration projects as part of EarthSpace programs, further raising awareness of the general public to current space exploration programs and competitions like the Google Lunar X PRIZE.

Free TV Udine Interviews Andrea Gini

This video (in Italian) is an interview of Andrea Gini by Free TV Udine. The interview covers Andrea's work on the touchscreen rover navigation software called Kaizen, which he developed with the Tohoku University's Space Robotics Lab. Andrea Gini is White Label Space's manager for the interface between the rover and lander.

The Lunar Lander

The Lander vehicle has been designed entirely by the White Label Space team. The main body of the Lander is shaped like a hexagon. On three of its six sides the landing legs will be attached and the remaining three sides will be unobstructed to permit accommodation of equipment and payload units that require external view factors. The landing legs provide excellent support points for on-board equipment which would otherwise apply high cantilever loads to the Lander’s sides during various mission stages.

It’s impossible to predict the exact landing site of the WLS spacecraft on the moon and there could be obstacles which could block the Rover’s path. For this reason the Lander has been designed with not one but two egress ramps which the Rover can use to reach the moon’s surface, if one is blocked then the Rover can use the other. The ramps are attached to two of the sides where landing legs are attached to make use of the support that they can provide. Attached to the third leg is the High Gain Antenna which is used to transmit data between the Lander and the team controlling it on earth. The Rover sits atop the Lander and is held in place by a Hold-Down and Release Mechanism (HDRM) based on a pyrotechnic bolt which will be detonated to release the Rover after landing.

As White Label Space's GLXP mission will be financed by advertisements the naming of the Lunar Rover is for sale. So any companies wishing to seize an opportunity to have their brand forever associated with mankind's return to the moon should contact the White Label Space team. Sponsoring the GLXP mission could lead to the headlines around the world telling of how the " Rover" was the first privately funded craft to explore the moon's surface; don't miss this chance to make marketing history!

Breaking, Descent and Landing

Now here is where the fun really begins, it's not every day you land a robot on the moon! The Breaking Stage solid motor is used to reduce the spacecraft's speed on its approach. The direct descent landing trajectory chosen means the Lander can touch down just after lunar dawn allowing the maximum amount of time to complete the mission but also requires the timing of this burn to be very precise. To achieve this precision an on-board timer is used to trigger the ignition when the Lander passes through a specific lunar altitude. After the Lander separates from the Breaking Stage it follows a gravity turn trajectory (illustrated in the image) to the surface using its own rocket engine to control its descent. During the final approach to touchdown the Lander determines its altitude and vertical velocity using a small radar altimeter and its horizontal velocity by a landing camera coupled with the altimeter and rate gyros. Finally, after travelling a quarter of a million miles, the Lander touches down on the moon's surface and prepares to deploy the Rover and complete the GLXP mission.

Simon O'Reilly

Simon O'Reilly is the PR Manager for White Label Space and in that role he also looks after the team's social media presence.

Simon has a keen interest in astronautics, theoretical physics and astronomy and has read extensively on these subjects.

He received a First Class Honours Degree from Trinity College Dublin in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering where he studied various modern manufacturing techniques and processes as well as their organization and management. His final year thesis was on "The Effects of Microjets on Jet Turbulence".

Simon's contact details are:

• email: simon.o.reilly@whitelabelspace.com
• twitter: @oreillsi

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Guidance and Navigation Control

Throughout the mission it is vital that the position and orientation of the spacecraft are precisely known so that it can be guided to the chosen landing site on the moon. Standard ground tracking techniques are used to accomplish this.

Soon after the Trans Lunar Injection burn and stage separation, a first Mid-Course Manoeuvre (MCM) is performed using the Braking Stage Reaction Control System. A sufficiently large delta-V for the MCM is provided for this burn that serves to compensate for injection inaccuracies of the solid motor. One or more subsequent MCM manoeuvres are performed throughout the rest of the lunar transit to accurately target the landing site. Following this the breaking stage is used to slow the spacecraft to a safe velocity for landing on the moon.

Attitude Control

The orientation or attitude of the spacecraft is critical at all stages of the mission. After the Trans Lunar Injection stage is complete the spacecraft stack begins its three day long journey to the moon. The difference in temperature between the side exposed to the sun and the side in the shade can be as high as 135 degrees. This temperature gradient can cause structural damage to the spacecraft and effect the performance of the Breaking Stage solid motor. To ensure that the temperature is distributed evenly a monopropellant Reaction Control System (RCS) is used to slowly spin the spacecraft about the flight axis.

The RCS is also used to perform any Mid-Course Manoeuvres (MCMs) needed during the lunar transit and to optimise the spacecraft's attitude for the breaking burn on approach to the lunar surface.

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.

Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) Stage

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle can be used to launch the spacecraft stack into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) but then a second rocket impulse is needed to transfer from this orbit into the Lunar Transfer Orbit (LTO) required to complete the mission.

This part of the mission is referred to as the Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) stage and is accomplished using a Star30BP solid motor. The spacecraft is first stabilised by spinning it about its flight axis using a small motor which thrusts in the tangential direction before the Star30BP fires to inject the stack into LTO. A yo-yo de-spin mechanism is used to slow the craft's rotation after the TLI stage is complete, a video demonstrating a yo-yo de-spin can be viewed here. If either the Soyuz Fregat or Falcon 9 launch vehicle is used then the spacecraft stack is placed directly in LTO so the separate TLI stage rocket is not needed.

The Launch Vehicle

Every space mission begins with a rocket launch and the mission planned by White Label Space is no different. The launch will place the spacecraft in a parking orbit above the earth before it is propelled further to LTO (Lunar Transfer Orbit). From here the spacecraft follows an orbit which brings it increasingly under the effect of the moon’s gravity until, after a three day journey, it reaches the moon.

The launch will be carried out using one of three low-cost launch vehicles with which the spacecraft stack designed by White Label Space is compatible; the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-XL) developed in India, Russia’s Soyuz Fregat or SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

The larger size of the Soyuz Fregat and Falcon-9 launchers allows for additional payload capacity. These launch vehicles could carry one or more other passenger spacecraft to LTO, potentially including other GLXP competitors. This would considerably reduce the launch costs incurred by each organisation and so offers a clear financial advantage to any private or government funded missions.

While the Soyuz and Falcon launch vehicles can deliver a payload directly to LTO the PSLV-XL does not have this capability and so an additional rocket would be needed to perform what is known as a TLI procedure (Trans Lunar Injection). Once the TLI stage rocket has inserted the stack into LTO, it separates and is discarded, leaving the three remaining components of the spacecraft stack; the braking stage, Lander and Rover, to continue on their course to the lunar surface.

CubeSat Project With MINES ParisTech

Preliminary CAD Model of ThermoCS
by MINES ParisTech

White Label Space GLXP team has teamed up with MINES ParisTech, one  on their new CubeSat project, ThermoCS.

MINES ParisTech, also known as École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris, is one of France's most prestigious engineering schools and provides post graduate education to some of France's top university students (see more information here).

The CubeSat is planned to contribute to the QB50 project, a constellation of 50 nanosatellites organized by the European Commission.

White Label Space will provide a secondary payload as part of its GLXP mission developments. The primary payload on the CubeSat will be the standard QB50 sensor suite designed to study the physical phenomena in the lower thermosphere, the of space and upper atmosphere in the  90-320km altitude range.

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Idea for a Lunar Night Survival Box

This video captures an introductory discussion about a battery powered lunar night survival box under investigation by the WLS engineering team for the GLXP bonus prize.

Engineering Meeting With Some Hardware

This video shows some of the action from last week's engineering meeting at the White Label Space HQ.

A number of hardware pieces are shown in various stages of development:

• new carbon fibre legs for the lander
• a custom PCB for data acquisition
• an omnidirectional camera that was repaired in the field at the Rio Tinto trials