Engineering topics

Beyer, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Beyer, R..

22 records · Page 2

NASA NTRS2017

Landing Site and Traverse Plan Development for Resource Prospector

Resource Prospector (RP) will be the first lunar surface robotic expedition to explore the character and feasibility of in situ resource utilization at the lunar poles. It is aimed at determining where, and how much, hydrogen-bearing and other volatiles are sequestered in polar cold traps. To meet its goals, the mission should land where the likelihood of finding polar volatiles is high [1,2,3]. The operational environment is challenging: very low sun elevations, long shadows cast by even moderate relief, cryogenic subsurface temperatures, unknown regolith properties, and very dynamic sun and Earth communications geometries force a unique approach to landing, traverse design and mission operations.

lunar poles↗

NASA NTRS2017

Landing Site and Traverse Plan Development for Resource Prospector

Resource Prospector (RP) will be the first lunar surface robotic expedition to explore the character and feasibility of in situ resource utilization at the lunar poles. It is aimed at determining where, and how much, hydrogen-bearing and other volatiles are sequestered in polar cold traps. To meet its goals, the mission should land where the likelihood of finding polar volatiles is high. The operational environment is challenging: very low sun elevations, long shadows cast by even moderate relief, cryogenic subsurface temperatures, unknown regolith properties, and very dynamic sun and Earth communications geometries force a unique approach to landing, traverse design and mission operations.

Resource Prospector (RP)↗

NASA NTRS2016

Resource Prospector Landing Site and Traverse Plan Development

Resource Prospector (RP) will be the first lunar surface robotic expedition to explore the character and feasibility of in situ resource utilization at the lunar poles. It is aimed at determining where, and how much, hydrogen-bearing and other volatiles are sequestered in polar cold traps. To meet its goals, the mission should land where the likelihood of finding polar volatiles is high. The operational environment is challenging: very low sun elevations, long shadows cast by even moderate relief, cryogenic subsurface temperatures, unknown regolith properties, and very dynamic sun and Earth communications geometries force a unique approach to landing, traverse design and mission operations.

lunar poles↗

NASA NTRS2015

Rover Traverse Planning to Support a Lunar Polar Volatiles Mission

Studies of lunar polar volatile depositsare of interest for scientific purposes to understandthe nature and evolution of the volatiles, and alsofor exploration reasons as a possible in situ resource toenable long term exploration and settlement of theMoon. Both theoretical and observational studies havesuggested that significant quantities of volatiles exist inthe polar regions, although the lateral and horizontaldistribution remains unknown at the km scale and finerresolution. A lunar polar rover mission is required tofurther characterize the distribution, quantity, andcharacter of lunar polar volatile deposits at thesehigher spatial resolutions. Here we present two casestudies for NASA’s Resource Prospector (RP) missionconcept for a lunar polar rover and utilize this missionarchitecture and associated constraints to evaluatewhether a suitable landing site exists to support an RPflight mission.

NASAaEuro(TM)s Resource Prospector (RP) mission↗