Origami-inspired deployable solar reflectors for mission lifetime extension of robotic vehicles for lunar exploration
- Paper number
IAC-22,C2,IP,16,x74191
- Author
Mr. Vipul Mani, Germany, TU Berlin
- Coauthor
Mr. Nicolás Sepúlveda, Chile, Universidad de Concepción
- Coauthor
Mrs. Ilaria Merli, Switzerland, ETHZ
- Coauthor
Ms. Chiara Armandi, Italy, University of Surrey
- Coauthor
Ms. Orlandi Veronica, Italy, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
- Year
2022
- Abstract
Humans have successfully landed on the lunar surface six times using technology from the 1960s. The last crewed mission to the moon was Apollo 17 in 1972 and we’ve not been back in over 50 years. The Artemis space flight program aims to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by the year 2024 and with it, begins a new generation of lunar exploration and the beginning of Artemis base camp which could be built on the moon by 2028. The Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs) of around the Shackleton Crater on the Moon’s South Pole is a region of great interest for space agencies around the world. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has returned data that indicate ice may make up as much as 22 percent of the surface material in craters located on the Moon’s south pole. The water-ice present in craters is of great scientific value as it can be extracted and broken into its constituent particles which can later be used as rocket fuel. Further, the water-ice can also be refined and used as drinking water for humans on the Moon. But, being in the PSRs of the Lunar South Pole, extraction of the water-ice possesses a functional problem. Without sunlight, the batteries on a mining rover would only last a few minutes. Added to the problem of PSRs is the issue of lunar night that lasts for 14-Earth_days and the temperature drops down to as low as -127℃. All of these problems can be solved sustainably if we have a continuous source of power. This study proposes a solution to the power constraint at the lunar south pole through an origami-inspired deployable structure that aims to reflect sunlight onto a region of interest on the lunar surface. When mounted on a robotic arm of a rover, the entire structure can be moved around to meet the power demands of robotic missions exploring dark craters on the Moon. Various folds and designs were studied and a comprehensive trade study would be provided to argue about the selected pattern. The work presents the modelling of the reflector using the selected origami fold-pattern and discusses the results for reflectivity performance from software-based simulations. The paper outlines the range of applications as the material selection and fabrication process. The technology has been selected for its demonstration as a part of EPFL AsclepiosII analogue astronaut mission.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)