Spacebit Mission One

Last updated
Spacebit Mission One
Mission type Lunar lander, rover
OperatorSpacebit
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer Spacebit
Start of mission
Launch date2022 [1]
Rocket Vulcan Centaur
Contractor United Launch Alliance (ULA)
Moon lander
Spacecraft component Rover
Landing dateTBD
Landing site Lacus Mortis
 

Spacebit Mission One is the UK's first planned robotic lunar mission; the rover is being designed by the privately held company Spacebit in collaboration with Yuzhmash. Its main goal is to deliver the Asagumo lunar rover [2] [3] to the surface of the Moon and demonstrate a new lunar exploration technology related to lunar lava tubes, which is expected to result in more sustainable lunar exploration. [4] [5]

Contents

Spacebit Mission One will launch on Astrobotic Technology's first Peregrine lunar lander, [6] which is scheduled to launch in 2022. [1]

Overview

Astrobotic's first lunar lander mission, called Mission One, is planned to have 14 commercial payloads. These include small rovers from Hakuto and Team AngelicvM [7] and a larger rover from Carnegie Mellon University named IRIS. [8] It will also include an unusual miniature rover of 1.3 kg, called Asagumo, that moves on four legs. [9] [10] Asagumo is a technological demonstrator that is planned to travel a distance of at least 10 m (33 ft). [11]

Image of Lacus Mortis featuring rilles (narrow depressions collectively called Rimae Burg) thought to indicate lava tubes beneath the surface, which may be explored by the Asagumo moon rover during Spacebit Mission One. Lacus Mortis - LROC - WAC.JPG
Image of Lacus Mortis featuring rilles (narrow depressions collectively called Rimae Bürg) thought to indicate lava tubes beneath the surface, which may be explored by the Asagumo moon rover during Spacebit Mission One.

In September 2019, Spacebit signed an agreement to deliver Asagumo, the UK's first lunar rover, naming the project Spacebit Mission One. [13] [14] [15] Spacebit founder Pavlo Tanasyuk, [16] had invested his earnings from selling his former company (a payment system called MoneyXy) in other space projects which were the predecessors to Spacebit.

On November 18, 2019, the CEO of Spacebit, Yuzhnoye Design Buro, unveiled a new Lunar Lander-Hopper prototype at the Dubai Airshow, while also announcing the UAE as the official testing location for a Spider Moon Rover — "the smallest robotic Moon rover in the world with legs." The lander was developed over two to three years with engine testing starting earlier. The Spider Moon Rover was due to be launched formally in 2020. The precise testing location in Abu Dhabi has yet to be identified. [17] [18]

"Our Lunar Lander is different as it incorporates the ability to 'hop' from one landing site to another," said Tanasyuk. It will be designed to deliver "150 kg or more of payload" to one landing point or "50 kg or more" to up to three remote landing points on the lunar surface within a distance of up to 20 km, said Spacebit. [19] [20] Equipped with four legs rather than wheels or tracks, the rover will be able to explore parts of the Moon other landers cannot reach. [21] [22]

The Asagumo robot rover can withstand temperatures up to 130C (266F). Power: Solar panels. Batteries: Lithium polymer. Skynews-spacebit-rover-moon.png
The Asagumo robot rover can withstand temperatures up to 130C (266F). Power: Solar panels. Batteries: Lithium polymer.

The plan is to land Astrobotic's Peregrine lander next to a pit located in the Lacus Mortis plain, then circumnavigate the pit with another rover while Asagumo enters the pit, [19] [17] which is thought to offer access to the lava tubes suspected to exist below the surface. [23] [18] [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

Lacus Mortis

Lacus Mortis is a hexagonal-shaped plain of basaltic lava flows in the northeastern part of the Moon's near face. It was formed as a floor-fractured crater during the pre-Imbrium epoch, then flooded during the late Imbrium period. This feature lies just to the south of the elongated Mare Frigoris, being separated by a slender arm of rugged ground and linked at the eastern extreme. To the south is the Lacus Somniorum, separated from this mare by the joined craters Plana and Mason, and a strip of uneven surface.

Google Lunar X Prize Award

The Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP), sometimes referred to as Moon 2.0, was a 2007–2018 inducement prize space competition organized by the X Prize Foundation, and sponsored by Google. The challenge called for privately funded teams to be the first to land a lunar rover on the Moon, travel 500 meters, and transmit back to Earth high-definition video and images.

Astrobotic Technology American space robotics company

Astrobotic Technology is an American privately held company that is developing space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions. It was founded in 2007 by Carnegie Mellon professor Red Whittaker and his associates, with the goal of winning the Google Lunar X Prize. The company is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Hakuto

Hakuto (ハクト) or formerly White Label Space (ホワイトレーベルスペース) was a team formed in early 2008 by a group of experienced space professionals inspired by the challenge of the Google Lunar X PRIZE to develop a robotic Moon exploration mission.

Lunar rover Vehicle that travels on the moons surface

A lunar rover or Moon rover is a space exploration vehicle designed to move across the surface of the Moon. The Apollo Program's Lunar Roving Vehicle was driven on the Moon by members of three American crews, Apollo 15, 16, and 17. Other rovers have been partially or fully autonomous robots, such as the Soviet Union's Lunokhods and the Chinese Yutus. Three countries have had operating rovers on the Moon: the Soviet Union, the United States and China. An Indian mission failed while Japan and Greece currently have planned missions.

Lunar CATALYST

The Lunar CATALYST initiative is an attempt by NASA to encourage the development of robotic lunar landers that can be integrated with United States commercial launch capabilities to deliver payloads to the lunar surface.

Commercial Lunar Payload Services NASA program contracting commercial transportation services to the Moon

Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is a NASA program to contract transportation services able to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon's south polar region mostly with the goals of scouting for lunar resources, testing in situ resource utilization (ISRU) concepts, and performing lunar science to support the Artemis lunar program. CLPS is intended to buy end-to-end payload services between Earth and the lunar surface using fixed priced contracts.

Team AngelicvM is a private company based in Chile that plans to deploy a small rover on the Moon. Their rover, called Unity, is one of various rovers that will be carried by the commercial Peregrine lander manufactured by Astrobotic Technology.

ispace Inc. is a private Japanese company developing robotic spacecraft technologies to build landers and rovers to compete for both transportation and exploration mission contracts from space agencies and private industry. ispace will enable clients who may want to discover, map, and use the natural lunar resources.

OrbitBeyond Lunar exploration company

Orbit Beyond, Inc., usually stylized as ORBITBeyond, builds extensible and scalable technologies for lunar exploration. Its products include configurable delivery lunar landers with a payload capacity of up to 300 kg (660 lb), and rovers. The company will contract for private rocket launch services.

<i>Nova-C</i> First lunar lander by a private company

Nova-C is a lunar lander designed by the private company Intuitive Machines to deliver small commercial payloads to the surface of the Moon.

Intuitive Machines Private American NewSpace company

Intuitive Machines, LLC is a private American company headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 2013 by Steve Altemus, Kam Ghaffarian, Tim Crain to provide autonomous systems for industrial systems, drones, spacecraft and spacesuit modeling and simulation services.

CubeRover is a class of planetary rover with a standardized modular format meant to accelerate the pace of space exploration. The idea is equivalent to that of the successful CubeSat format, with standardized off-the-shelf components and architecture to assemble small units that will be all compatible, modular, and inexpensive.

<i>VIPER</i> (rover) Planned NASA lunar rover

VIPER is a lunar rover developed by NASA, and currently planned to be delivered to the surface of the Moon in November 2023. The rover will be tasked with prospecting for lunar resources in permanently shadowed areas in the lunar south pole region, especially by mapping the distribution and concentration of water ice. The mission builds on a previous NASA rover concept called Resource Prospector, which was cancelled in 2018.

Spacebit is a privately held British company that develops space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions. Spacebit was founded in 2014, is funded privately via Pavlo Tanasyuk himself, along with a couple of other private investors. The company is based in London, England. The company is fully funded through its first mission Spacebit Mission One.

<i>Asagumo</i> (rover)

The Asagumo is a lunar rover by Spacebit planned to be delivered to the surface of the Moon on Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lunar lander in 2022. The rover weighs just 1.3 kg and, instead of wheels, is equipped with four legs to walk the Moon's surface to collect the data from Lidar and other equipment. The robot will eventually be able to explore the "Lunar lava tubes".

DHL MoonBox

DHL MoonBox is a mementos box that will be going to the Moon in 2021 on Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine Lunar lander. The DHL MoonBox is made by DHL. It contains 28 capsules all of which have been filled. It contains items from the USA, UK, Canada, Nepal, Germany and Belgium. The 28 payloads on it are:

Yaoki

Yaoki is a moon rover made by Japanese company Dymon to be launched in 2021 by American company Astrobotic Technology on their peregrine lunar lander. Yaoki was first announced in 2019.

References

  1. 1 2 Berger, Eric (25 June 2021). "Rocket Report: China to copy SpaceX's Super Heavy? Vulcan slips to 2022". Ars Technica . Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  2. ↑ October 2019, Mike Wall 12. "UK's 1st Moon Rover to Launch in 2021". Space.com. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  3. ↑ Clark, Stuart (2019-10-17). "Spacewatch: UK's first moon rover poised for 2021 touchdown". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  4. ↑ Spacebit Mission One: UK's 1st Moon Rover to Launch in 2021 , retrieved 2020-02-01
  5. ↑ Hoggins, Tom (2019-10-10). "UK to send 'walking' spider robot to the moon in its first lunar rover mission". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  6. ↑ Clark, Stuart (2019-10-17). "Spacewatch: UK's first moon rover poised for 2021 touchdown". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  7. ↑ "Astrobotic ready to become delivery service to the Moon". SpaceFlight Insider. 2018-03-19. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  8. ↑ https://www.astrobotic.com/manifest . Retrieved 2020-05-21.Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ↑ "Britain's first moon rover is a four-legged robot that will explore lunar tunnels". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  10. ↑ "Tiny walking rover bound for the moon". Reuters. 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  11. ↑ October 2019, Mike Wall 12. "UK's 1st Moon Rover to Launch in 2021". Space.com. Retrieved 2020-11-21.
  12. 1 2 3D Printed structure of Lacus Mortis pit crater with assumption of a cave underneath. Ik-Seon Hong, Eunjin Cho, Yu Yi, Jaehyung Yu, Junichi Haruyama. 2nd International Planetary Caves Conference (2015).
  13. ↑ "Astrobotic Awarded $79.5 Million Contract to Deliver 14 NASA Payloads to the Moon | Astrobotic". www.astrobotic.com. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  14. ↑ "Spacebit to unveil the UK's first Lunar Lander-Hopper at the Dubai Airshow 2019 – India Strategic" . Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  15. ↑ "Astrobotic and Spacebit Announce Agreement to Bring the First UK Commercial Payload to the Moon | Astrobotic". www.astrobotic.com. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  16. ↑ "Pavlo Tanasyuk". New Scientist Live. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  17. 1 2 Sheppard, Ian. "UK Lunar Lander Will Be Tested in UAE". Aviation International News. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  18. 1 2 "Spacebit to unveil the UK's first Lunar Lander-Hopper at the Dubai Airshow 2019 – India Strategic" . Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  19. 1 2 Sheppard, Ian. "UK Lunar Lander Will Be Tested in UAE". Aviation International News. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  20. ↑ Sheppard, Ian. "UK Lunar Lander Will Be Tested in UAE". Aviation International News. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  21. ↑ "SpaceBit moon rover set to land on lunar surface in 2021". Sky News. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  22. ↑ Browne, Ryan (2019-10-10). "Britain's first moon rover is a tiny four-legged robot that will launch into space by 2021". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  23. ↑ "3D Modeling of Lacus Mortis Pit Crater with Presumed Interior Tube Structure." Journal of Astronomy and Space Science 32(2); Pages: 113-120; June 2015.  doi : 10.5140/JASS.2015.32.2.113
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