Designing Small Spacecraft to Operate in the Lunar Environment
- Paper number
IAC-08.C2.6.2
- Author
Dr. Greg Olsen, Mississippi State University, United States
- Year
2008
- Abstract
With the current emphasis on Lunar/Mars Exploration, several lunar missions are in the development stage. For precursor missions and satellites, the lunar environment, both on-orbit and on the surface, is highly uncertain. Most of the data and knowledge were developed in the Apollo era1. An effort is underway to characterize the lunar environment for use in the design of a small navigation/communication satellite precursor mission. Emphasis will be placed on characterization of the environments that must be specifically addressed in the mission design and the development of hardware components. Areas of interest include meteoroids, radiation, thermal, gravity and plasma generation. A review of the existing data and models will be presented, followed by an introduction of recent findings. A general framework of the lunar environment will be developed and strategies for addressing the environment in the design of hardware and operational scenarios will be presented. In terms of meteoroids, the recently developed model under review by NASA2 and ESA3 presents a radical departure from the typically used Grun model. A thorough review of the implications of the revised flux definition will be detailed and implications for the development of small satellites will be evaluated. A framework for required for hypervelocity impact testing and simulations will be proposed. The radiation experienced by lunar satellites consist of both background radiation and single event eruptions. A review of various existing models4 and definitions will be undertaken, with the result being a unified specification that will lead to hardening requirements. The thermal environment models in existence will be explored and, combined with new findings, a thermal profile for a reference mission will be presented. Based on that profile, thermal protection schemes, waste heat management and implications for electronics performance will be addressed. The current lunar gravity models are incomplete at best. The current NASA documentation5 will be reviewed and emerging data integrated to provide a baseline gravity profile to use in mission design. Plasma generation, charging, arcing and other associated phenomena will be characterized and recommendations made to preclude mission degradation. References 1. T.A. Sullivan, NASA RP-1317, 1983. 2. J. Jones, NASA SEE/CR-2004-400, 2004. 3. Dikarev, V., et. al., “The New ESA Meteoroid Model,” Advances in Space Research, Vol 35, Issue 7, 2005. 4. De Angelis, G., et. al., “Modeling of the Lunar Radiation Environment,” Nuclear Physics B – Proceedings Supplements, Vol 166, 2007. 5. R.B. Roncoli, JPL D-32296, 2005.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)