University of Arizona & Raytheon partner for X-Prize: Return to Tranquillity Base

Teamed up with Carnegie Mellon & Astrobotics

Alan Fischer - Tuscon Citizen

University of Arizona scientists and students are reaching for the moon in a quest for a $30 million payoff.

The mission, if successful, could change the way space exploration is done, help UA students find jobs and enrich southern Arizona, backers said.

The UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department have teamed with Raytheon Missile Systems and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to design, build, fly and operate a robotic lunar lander mission.

The team, called Astrobotic Technology Inc., is competing with nine other groups for the the Google Lunar X Prize, which offers a $30 million purse for the first private robotic mission to the moon that meets operational specifications.

Efforts are under way to fund the project, which is expected to cost about $100 million.

Mission plans call for landing the rover about 500 meters from the Apollo 11 landing site where in July 1969 man first visited the moon, said Dante Lauretta, deputy team leader and UA associate professor at LPL.

"I think it is going to be awe inspiring to go back and see the place where man first walked on the moon," he said.

The rover will beam a high-definition video back to Earth showing its journey on the moon's surface and the Apollo 11 lander, he said.

Some long lead time items, like the mission's launch vehicle, mean it will take about 18 months from the time full funding is secured to landing on the moon, Lauretta said.

The spacecraft will take about five days to reach the moon, about the same as the Apollo missions, Lauretta said.

The mission to the moon will be based at UA.

"We will handle the journey to the moon, descent, landing, deploy the lander and control the rover," Lauretta said.

The launch vehicle to push the craft into space will be purchased from an outside source, he said.

The remainder of the space components, including the lander and rover - to be called Artemis Lander and Red Rover - will be built and operated by the team.

The project will be based in the LPL's Science Operations Center building, which currently houses Phoenix Mars Lander mission operations, Lauretta said.

"We are going to fabricate the spacecraft on the UA campus," he said. "This will be another leap in capability for the UA."

The building, at 1415 N. Sixth Ave., will also house mission control, running the project from the time the spacecraft separates from its booster rocket until the mission is completed, he said.

"We will have a joystick and control from Earth the vehicle driving around on the moon," Lauretta said.

The project has $1.5 million in hand donated by UA, Carnegie Mellon and Raytheon to fund design work and develop a business plan needed to raise funds to cover the project's $100 million price tag, Lauretta said.

A business team including UA External Relations is working to secure sponsors and investors to fund the project, he said.

And while spending $100 million for a chance at winning a $30 million prize may seem like unsound economics to some, Lauretta said the payoff to Astrobotic, as well as to southern Arizona, could be huge.

"We are initiating a new business that involves the private sector that will carry cargo to the surface of the moon at a fraction of the cost of federal government projects," Lauretta said.

"Investors look at this not just to win $30 million. They see a new industry opening up that could have enormous potential for the future of the United States.

"The X Prize is not the only revenue stream. We will have a system for pinpoint accuracy delivery to the surface of the moon or other planets. Others will come and pay for that. We really believe in the vision of the Google Lunar X Prize to make lunar surface activities routine."

The initial mission may cost $100 million, but ensuing efforts will see the price drop, he said.

By offering a relatively inexpensive turnkey way to deliver packages to space bodies, the project could attract many customers, he said.

"Instead of being the group that provides the science instruments, we will be able to provide an entire spacecraft and run an entire mission," Lauretta said. "UA will be capable of building and operating entire space missions for NASA. We'll have a bigger share of the workload.

"This will make Tucson a kind of center for planetary exploration. It will really be a huge economic boon to the whole region."

Local team members are confident Astrobotic will succeed.

"It's a remarkable combination of talent, with Raytheon bringing serious spacecraft engineering, the University of Arizona bringing serious space science and Carnegie Mellon bringing strong expertise in robotics," said Michael J. Drake, director of UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

"It's kind of a match made in heaven."

"Looking at the other teams, we're No. 1 or No. 2 in ability to put a rover on the moon and successfully do the mission," said Dan Cheeseman, a Raytheon Missile Systems engineer who is working on the project.

The collaboration between UA and Raytheon could offer the area long-term business benefits, Drake said.

"This is a unique, very high-energy partnership between Raytheon and the UA," he said. "We're trying to figure out how we can work with Raytheon on civil space activities, which would allow us to keep more money here in southern Arizona when we make a proposal."

By providing more components and services for future space missions "in house" at UA, more mission money would be spent locally, Drake said.

For example, the UA-led Phoenix Mars Lander mission is funded by NASA for $420 million, but about $60 million of that will be spent locally with the remainder going for outsourcing the booster rocket, lander and navigation to the Martian surface where UA will take over scientific exploration.

"If we succeed this is going to be a huge boost for the space industry in Arizona," Drake said.

A close collaboration between the University of Arizona and Raytheon Missile Systems on the Google Lunar X Prize project could offer both big benefits.

Fifteen Raytheon engineers have teamed with about 40 UA Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering students to design and eventually build a landing craft to deliver a rover to the surface of the moon.

"We give them a chance to work with engineers, learn while in school what Raytheon wants and identify them as potential candidates for hiring," said Roberto Furfaro, UA engineering students program manager and assistant professor. "Raytheon is real excited about the type of work we are doing and is really evaluating these students. They are learning how Raytheon operates and when they graduate they are ready to go."

The cooperative effort offers the students a chance to work on a project that will actually go into space, said Aaron Farber, a second year AME grad student who is working on the mission's guidance, navigation and control effort.

"We've got to stop this thing and land it in an area a meter across," Farber said of the precision soft landing the program requires. "If we get it 99 percent of the way there and it doesn't stop, we don't win. We're responsible for making that happen."

Farber's GNC team is designing the thruster system for steering the craft in space and guiding it to a precise location for a soft landing on the moon's surface.

In addition to GNC, student teams are designing electrical power and thermal systems and the lander's mechanical structure.

Raytheon is supporting the program with its 15 engineers, said Dan Cheeseman, chief architect of space applications at Raytheon.

The Raytheon engineers and UA engineering students work closely together to design the craft for the mission.

"They bring a set of fresh ideas," said Chris Owan, section head for mechanical subsystem directorate at Raytheon.

The collaboration offers the students the opportunity to see how things really operate at a large company such as Raytheon, and gives Raytheon a view of how the students might fit in there, Owan said.

New engineering graduates face challenges getting up to speed in the real world, said Matt Cribb, GNC flight control section head at Raytheon.

"This gives them the practical experience they need to be marketable," Cribb said.

"This is like a once-in-a-dream opportunity. You can't buy this kind of experience," Farber said. "It's a fantastic opportunity to segue into a job."

"It's not just about going to the moon," Cheeseman told a group of the the student engineers at a Monday afternoon meeting. "It's about your careers."

The project also offers Raytheon the opportunity to move into the space exploration market, Cheeseman said.

"It could make us a player in a market we're not in right now - as an innovator," he said.

The students are making strong contributions to the project.

"When we get to the moon, it's going to be because of their effort and help," Cribb said.

The project could offer UA students, as well as Raytheon, big benefits.