ESA Lunar Lander mission axed

The EADS Astrium - European Space Agency (ESA) Lunar Lander, clinging to a 2018 landing, possibly on the rim of lunar South Pole crater Shackleton, is likely scrubbed [EAS/Astrium].

Germany's DLR has reportedly given up advocating the 2018 south polar Lunar Lander mission as ESA member nations struggle with dire discretionary budget constraints in the midst of an on-going sovereign debt crisis.

Germany dropped further efforts to secure joint European funding for Lunar Lander at an ESA budget meeting in Naples in favor of upgrades to the Ariane 5.

Meanwhile, following NASA's exit from the ExoMars orbiter-rover mission, in development since 2005, Russia's Federal Space Agency Roscosmos has become ESA's new launch partner, set to launch the orbiter half of that mission in 2016 and its tandem six-wheeled rover two years later.

Related Posts:
ESA input sought on multi-purpose lunar lander (March 2, 2009)
Astrium study of ESA NEXT lunar lander underway (June 10, 2009)
Remembering SMART-1 (September 17, 2009)
ESA: Fly us to the Moon's South Pole (March 31, 2010)
NEXT step for ESA's first lunar lander (September 16, 2010)
Astrium tests ESA Lunar Lander thrusters (March 5, 2012)
ESA's MoonNEXT boosted by ATV development (April 30, 2012)
ESA Lunar Lander still on target for 2018 (July 27, 2012)

ESA's MoonNEXT boosted by ATV development

MoonNEXT - EADS-Astrium Bremen's proposed lunar lander for the European Space Agency, under development for a landing near the Moon's south pole, possibly in 2018..

Dan Thisdell
Flightglobal

European Space Agency plans for a robotic Moon landing have been boosted by successful testing of a rocket motor which ESA engineers plan to use to control the lander's descent on the 2018 expedition.

The thruster is the same unit as used on ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), selected to save development cost and for its known reliability - as demonstrated on International Space Station resupply missions. But specific testing at EADS Astrium's facility in Lampoldshausen, Germany to simulate a lunar descent and touchdown in a vacuum has convinced ESA the ATV thruster will do the job.

According to mission study manager Bérengère Houdou, the landing will take about 90 minutes from a 100km lunar orbit, but the final 10 minutes will be extremely challenging, with dynamics similar to those experienced at launch. In the lunar vacuum, all the braking is carried out by rocket power, which means a huge fuel burn.

Thus, says Houdou, thrust must be adjustable to account for a tremendous change in the lander's mass as it approaches the Moon, as a rocket powerful enough to slow the craft's early descent would be powerful enough to cause it to "bounce back" off the surface.

However, while much of the purpose of the mission is to prove European technologies suitable for use on later, manned international missions - for cargo supply, for example - Europe does not have a single engine capable of such modulation.

So, says Houdou, the lander will carry a cluster of motors which can be switched on or off individually to vary the total thrust. One of the key milestones achieved in the latest tests was to show that the ATV engine is accurately controllable in high-frequency pulses.

The next stage of testing, she says, will attempt to verify the interaction of several engines and their performance when connected by shared fuel lines. A design review should, in the coming months, outline the mission requirements and cost. Pending budget approval at this November's meeting of ESA member-state government ministers, Houdou hopes to have the mission ready for final preparation in 2015.

Unlike for a manned mission, ESA's flightplan is leisurely. A Soyuz-Fregat launch from Kourou, French Guiana will carry the lander to Earth orbit about halfway to the Moon, followed by a one- or two-month cruise to lunar orbit.

The landing site will be near the south pole, where "several months" of constant sunshine would allow a lengthy mission by sparing the spacecraft the devastating effects of temperatures that can plunge as low as -170˚C.

Astrium tests ESA lunar lander thrusters

The European Space Agency (ESA) is developing MoonNEXT,
a lunar lander mission to the Moon's south pole set for 2018 [ESA].

Europe’s ambition of touching down at the Moon’s south pole by 2018 has been boosted by recent test firings of the craft’s thrusters. The robot lander will prove new techniques for sending humans to the Moon and assess lunar hazards. One of these thrusters was recently put through its paces at Astrium’s specialized facility in Lampoldshausen, Germany.

The test chamber was configured to reproduce the vacuum and temperatures that Lunar Lander will face on its way down to the Moon’s surface. A complete descent and touchdown was simulated, with the thruster firing in a series of short bursts, reaching a white-hot 1100ºC.

According to ESA’s Bérengère Houdou, the results are positive: “The thruster operations were smooth and stable, with great performance, even under the stress of a lunar lander’s operating conditions.”

To save the cost of developing a new engine, ESA engineers looked to the tried-and-tested thrusters of Europe’s proven Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) space ferry.

Related video HERE. - ESA press release HERE.

NEXT step for ESA's first lunar lander

NEXT, ESA's lunar lander mission, is under development for a landing in the mountainous, heavily cratered terrain near lunar south pole, possibly in 2018. The ‘Phase-B1’ study is going on under the leadership of EADS-Astrium Bremen, where some key technologies will be developed and tested for the first time. The project will be presented to the ESA Ministerial Council in 2012 for final approval [ESA].

BERLIN - Sept. 16. What's being planned as the first soft landing in the Moon's south polar region took a step forward today when a further study contract was signed with EADS-Astrium in Berlin, Germany.

The mission aims to land in the mountainous and heavily cratered terrain of the lunar south pole in 2018. The region may be a prime location for future human explorers because it offers almost continuous sunlight for power and potential access to vital resources such as water-ice.

To reach the surface safely, the lander must precisely navigate its way to a mountain peak or crater rim, carefully avoiding boulders and steep slopes before gently setting down to take in one of the most spectacular views in the Solar System.

The Moon is a favored target for the human exploration missions outlined in the ‘Global Exploration Strategy’ (pdf) by 14 space agencies around the world. The strategy supports international space exploration and calls for further studies of the Moon and Mars – places where humans will one day live and work.

18-month effort begins in Berlin today

The contract was signed by Simonetta Di Pippo, ESA’s Director of Human Spaceflight, and Michael Menking of EADS-Astrium, in the presence of Peter Hintze, Parliamentary State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

"It is a great pleasure to see progress being made in Europe in the field of space exploration relying on key technologies developed for human spaceflight," affirmed Mrs Di Pippo.

"As we prepare ourselves to join the United States, Russia and Japan in the decision to utilize the International Space Station for 10 more years and beyond," she added, "we are preparing the next steps, and we are working to position Europe at the level of its competences and capabilities within the global exploration undertaking. With a strong and successful presence in low orbit, the Moon is the next natural goal on our common path to further destinations. Europe is actively and successfully present in these global projects, like ISS and exploration, which contribute to affirm our role as a modern, dynamic and innovation-driven continent."

"The proven capabilities of the Automated Transfer Vehicle as a technology demonstration are representative of Astrium’s skills and experience in automated rendezvous and docking procedures," said Dr. Menking, Astrium’s Senior Vice President Orbital Systems and Space Exploration.

"The concept of the new study is based on the technologies of ATV and this unique expertise will enable us to develop the key technologies; it would not be possible to envisage landing a robotic vehicle on the Moon without them."

From a design concept to hardware reality

European Space Agency Next lunar lander breaks a polar orbit a few hundred kilometers past perilune and begins its carefully timed and calculated Terminal Descent to the lunar surface, perhaps in 2018 [ESA].

The start of this ‘Phase-B1’ study is an important milestone because now, after the preliminary planning and feasibility studies, the mission’s design will be continued under the leadership of EADS-Astrium Bremen and some of the key technologies will be developed and tested for the first time.

The robotic lander will be designed down to the level of its various subsystems, such as propulsion and navigation. The contract will culminate in a ‘Preliminary System Requirements Review’ in 2012, which will provide the basis for the final design of the mission and lander.

The bright rim of 10 km-wide Shackleton crater, surrounding its permanently shadowed interior, supports the southern axis of the Moon's rotation. The pole itself presents a very small profile for a landing ellipse for a stationary lander. From "Lunar South Pole: Out of the Shadows," a mosaic of LROC Narrow Angle Camera frames M105824863L & R, LRO orbit 744, August 25, 2009 [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Superconductor magnet heat shield concept

Lin Edwards
PhysOrg.com

European space agencies and an aerospace giant are developing a new re-entry heat shield that will use superconductor magnets to generate a magnetic field strong enough to deflect the superhot plasma formed during re-entry of returning spacecraft. They plan to test the new technology by attaching a test module to a missile and using a Russian submarine to fire it into space.

As spacecraft re-enter the Earth's atmosphere at high speeds super-hot temperatures are produced through friction. Traditional heat shields use temperature-resistant ablative coatings that burn off on re-entry, or tough insulating materials, such as the tiles used on the space shuttle. If the new magnetic shielding is successful it could be more reliable and make the craft lighter and easier to re-use, since it would reduce or eliminate the need for other shielding materials.

The project is being run cooperatively by the European Space Agency, EADS Astrium, and the German aerospace center, DLR (Deutschen Zentrums for Luft- und Raumfahrt). The idea is to use a superconducting coil at front of the craft to generate a strong magnetic field projecting beyond the front of the craft.

The scientists are currently assessing the superconducting coil's performance, and have not yet finalized the technical details of exactly how they will fit it into a Russian "Volan" escape capsule for the test. Also uncertain at this stage are the modifications that will be needed to the trajectory to compensate for the deflected air. Telemetry data recovery will also present challenges because the ionized gases that will form around the craft will block radio signals.

The Volan and its magnetic heat shield would be launched into a suborbital trajectory from a Russian submarine at sea. The missile, a modified ballistic missile called Volna, would re-enter the Earth's atmospher at Mach 21 and come back to Earth in the Kamchatka peninsula, a remote region of the Russian Far East.

Detlev Konigorski of EADS Astrim, speaking in Manchester last month at the 2009 European air and space conference, said he expected the test to take place three years after it is approved, and that should be some time in the next decade.

More information: http://www.flightglobal.com/landingpage/eads.html

EADS Astrium wants to build more ESA ATVs

Next step - ATVs that return Cargo

Les Mureaux - March 31 (Reuters) - Astrium, the space unit of aerospace group EADS, says it is seeking support to build two extra resupply vehicles worth 400 million euros for the International Space Station.

The first ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) Jules Verne docked with ISS last year and was a breakthrough for the European Space Agency.

"We have sent ESA an offer to build two extra ATVs," Alain Charmeau, head of Astrium Space Transportation, told reporters, adding he expected to get a response by the end of 2009.

ESA was not immediately available to comment.

Ministers from the 18-nation ESA agreed in November to develop a new version of the ATV that would return cargo from the space station to Earth without burning up in the atmosphere.

Read the Story HERE.

Technologies for landing on the Moon

The NEXT Lunar Lander study
EADS Astrium

The United States have been to the Moon and want to go again, China and India have recently launched their own lunar missions, and Europe is looking at the possibility of future missions to Earth’s natural satellite. Astrium is working on a European Space Agency (ESA) study: ‘NEXT Lunar Lander with In-Situ Science and Mobility’.

The NEXT Lunar Lander study is in two phases. “In the first phase, we defined the baseline for a mission concept,” explains Dr Peter Kyr, who is leading the study at Astrium Space Transportation. “This mainly concerned the transfer strategy, the descent, landing, mobility, lunar surface operations and the issue of weight distribution between the lander and the Moon rover.” The results of the first phase were presented to ESA in July 2008. In Phase 2, the complete mission concept is now being finalised, and the design of the transfer module, the lander and the Moon rover is being developed.

An excellent, brief concept analysis HERE.

ESA funds SKYLON Spaceplane propulsion

The notion of a truly reusable Single-Stage-To-Orbit "spaceplane" enjoyed by millions in the remarkable OrbiterSim simulation engine released by Dr. Martin Schweiger is one step closer to reality. The European Space Agency and British government have given official support to the "revolutionary propulsion technology" designed by UK-based Reaction Engines LTD .

REL has been awarded a one million euro contract by ESA for “Experimental Investigation of Key Technologies for a Turbine Based Combined Airbreather Rocket Engine." The ESA contract contributes towards a total program of almost £6 million.

ESA’s funding for the project is provided via subscriptions by the British National Space Centre partnership with two technology programs of the ESA – the Technology Research Programme (TRP) and the General Support Technology Programme (GSTP).

"The British National Space Centre (BNSC) is at the heart of UK efforts to explore and exploit space. BNSC is a partnership of seven Government Departments, two Research Councils, the Met Office and the Technology Strategy Board. It coordinates UK civil space activities and represents the UK at the European Space Agency," according to the REL press release.

REL’s partners in this programme are EADS Astrium at Ottobrun, Germany; DLR (Deutsches Zentrum fűr Luft- und Raumfahrt) in Lampoldhausen, Germany; and the University of Bristol, England.

More on the SKYLON and SABRE HERE.