TO ACQUIRE END-TO-END COMMERCIAL PAYLOAD SERVICES BETWEEN THE EARTH AND THE LUNAR SURFACE FOR NASA HEADQUARTERS'' SCIENCE, HUMAN EXPLORATION AND OPERATIONS, AND SPACE TECHNOLOGY MISSION DIRECTORATES (SMD, HEOMD, AND STMD
AS THE UNITED STATES STRATEGIZES ITS RETURN OF HUMANS TO THE MOON IN 2024 AND BEYOND PER SPACE POLICY DIRECTIVE ONE, THERE ARE MANY CHALLENGES IN TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING THAT MUST BE OVERCOME TO ENSURE A SUCCESSFUL MISSION.
UCF IS DEVELOPING THE EJECTA SHEET TRACKING, OPACITY, AND REGOLITH MATURITY (EJECTA STORM) INSTRUMENT, A SENSOR TECHNOLOGY WITH THE UNIQUE CAPABILITY OF QUANTIFYING THE BLOWING OF EJECTA UNDER THE PLUME OF A ROCKET-POWERED LANDING VEHICLE. WHEN A SPACECRAFT LANDS ON THE LUNAR SURFACE, THE ENGINE EXHAUST EJECTS REGOLITH PARTICLES AT HIGH VELOCITY. IT STRIPS AWAY A LAYER OF SPACE-WEATHERED SOIL FROM UNDER THE LANDER, PHOTOMETRICALLY BRIGHTENS A REGION AROUND THE LANDER, DEPOSITS SAND, GRAVEL, AND DUST IN THE SURROUNDING LOCALE (AND GLOBALLY FOR SUFFICIENTLY LARGE LANDERS), DEPOSITS PLUME CHEMICALS INTO THE SURROUNDING REGION, AND SANDBLASTS ANY HARDWARE WITHIN REACH. THIS CAN AFFECT THE SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY OF A MISSION AND THE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE SPACECRAFT AND SURROUNDING HARDWARE LIKE A LUNAR OUTPOST OR PREVIOUSLY LANDED LUNAR ASSETS. MEMBERS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA (UCF) TEAM HAVE RESEARCHED THESE PHENOMENA FOR 20 YEARS TO INFORM THE DESIGN OF A LUNAR LANDING INSTRUMENT TO MEASURE THE MOST IMPORTANT PROPERTIES OF REGOLITH EJECTA. UNDER NASA S FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM, UCF WILL TEST THE EJECTA STORM INSTRUMENT'S ABILITY TO MEASURE REGOLITH EJECTA PARTICLE VELOCITIES AND SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS BY FLYING THE SENSOR ON MASTEN SPACE SYSTEM S XODIAC, A VERTICAL TAKEOFF, VERTICAL LANDING (VTVL) ROCKET POWERED TERRESTRIAL LANDER.
THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS STUDY IS TO ADVANCE THE MASTEN DESCENT ELEMENT (MDE) CONCEPT FOR SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS REVIEW. THIS WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED BY FOCUSING ON THE OVERALL HLS REQUIREMENTS, INCLUDING THOSE RELATED TO INDIVIDUAL ELEMENT AND INTER-ELEMENT INTERFACE, TO INFORM THE OVERALL MISSION. THE MDE WILL TRANSLATE SYSTEM-LEVEL REQUIREMENTS INTO DETAILED FUNCTIONAL AND PERFORMANCE DESIGN CRITERIA AS WELL AS REFINING COMMON INTERFACES IN THE OVERALL HLS FRAMEWORK. THROUGHOUT THIS PROCESS, THE GOAL IS TO REFINE THE MDE DESIGNS THROUGH FREQUENT TESTING AND VALIDATION TO IMPROVE MANUFACTURABILITY AND DRIVE DOWN SCHEDULE DURATIONS AND COSTS. THE DEVELOPMENT APPROACH WILL IDENTIFY KEY AREAS IN NEED OF TECHNOLOGICAL MATURATION AND EXECUTE ON THE PLAN TO EVOLVE THESE CAPABILITIES. ALL OF THESE EFFORTS SUPPORT NASA'S PLAN FOR LAUNCHING THE FIRST HLS ELEMENT DEMONSTRATION MISSION IN 2024. MASTEN WILL PROVIDE A DESCENT ELEMENT TO INTERFACE WITH AN ASCENT ELEMENT AND ACHIEVE THE OBJECTIVE OF DEMONSTRATING A LUNAR SURFACE LANDING OF A FUTURE HUMAN LANDER FROM THE GATEWAY.
THIS WORK ANSWERS THE QUESTIONS AND NEEDS OF FOCUS AREA 21 SUBTOPIC Z9.01 FOR SMALL LAUNCH VEHICLE TECHNOLOGIES BY PROVIDING AFFORDABLE LAUNCH ARCHITECTURE, AS PROPULSION SYSTEMS ARE THE HIGHEST COST SUBSYSTEM FOR ROCKET DEVELOPMENT AND PERMIAM WILL ENABLE A LARGE SAVINGS FOR MAIN PROPULSION SYSTEM ENGINE DEVELOPMENT. PART OF THE WORK PERFORMED IN THIS SBIR WILL HELP IN DETERMINE THE POTENTIAL SAVINGS FOR FUTURE ENGINE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS, CURRENTLY PROJECTED AT 10X FOR INJECTOR BUILD COST SAVINGS WHICH REQUIRE FACE COOLING. PERMIAM WILL ENABLE INCREASED DESIGN SIMPLICITY FOR AM INJECTORS AND REDUCED DEVELOPMENT COSTS THROUGH IMPROVED FACE COOLING AND IMPROVED COMBUSTION STABILITY. A FULL SCALE PROOF OF CONCEPT GROUND TEST WILL BE DEMONSTRATED BY THE END OF PHASE II, WITH THE SUBSCALE DEMONSTRATION DURING PHASE I TO MEET THE SUBTOPIC REQUIREMENTS.