Astrobotic Technology, Inc

Parts to battle lunar heat take shape

david.gump — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:28:18 +0000

The overriding technical challenge of operating a rover near the Moon’s equator is the intense, prolonged heat produced by solar radiation and the hot regolith over which the rover travels. All powered equipment inside the robot generates its own heat as well, which must be routed to the radiator for release into space. In the photo below, the team has a key composite part sealed in vacuum to achieve better bonding of the layers. This part, the motor strap, connects the heat-generating 28v brushless motor to other high-conductivity composite straps leading up to the radiator.

The schematic below shows where the motor strap fits into the design of one of the two drive motors, mounted in the “shoulder” of the robot. The motors power chain drives on either side of the robot that connect to the wheels. The rover steers by driving the two sides at different speeds, or reversing one side to turn in place.

Team adds mock head to prototype rover

david.gump — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:38:24 +0000

The third prototype lunar robot developed by the Astrobotic team has been crowned by a mock camera/antenna head, completing its overall look. The unit was robotically machined to perfect the team’s skills in creating the foam molds over which carbon fiber will be laid up to build the actual camera and antenna housings. The horizontal section will house two wide-field cameras with a telephoto zoom between them. The white top of this unit is a radiator to regulate internal temperatures. The dome will house an S-band “evolved” antenna.

Fabrication starts on battery pack mold

david.gump — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:26:53 +0000

The Astrobotic rover will carry a battery pack (273 WHr) to ensure power during the high-activity landing and also for the brief periods during roving when the solar panels won’t be fully oriented toward the Sun. The team is fabricating a battery pack that straps the lithium ion cells to a main I-beam, which connects to the radiator to disperse heat.

This image shows the top piece of an aluminum mold for the battery pack over which a carbon-fiber structure will be built up.

This image shows the bottom piece of an aluminum mold for the battery pack over which a carbon-fiber structure will be built up, forming a container something like a U clamp to hold the individual small cells together.

This image shows some of the carbon fiber strips that will be laid up over the battery molds to create the battery pack structure.

Astrobotic begins tests of tiny IMU

david.gump — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:11:05 +0000

The Astrobotic team has initiated testing of an experimental inertial measurement unit (IMU) loaned from Intel Labs. (IMUs measure a spacecraft’s velocity, orientation and gravitational forces.)

The tiny device provides six degree of freedom orientation data, utilizing a bluetooth wireless connection to a host computer. It contains three accelerometers, three gyroscopes, three magnetometers, and a microprocessor. The 9.8 gram IMU runs for six hours on a single charge.

Video of IMU test screen

Night survival test succeeds with Intel chip

david.gump — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:03:42 +0000

For the Astrobotic rover to survive hibernation during the lunar night’s cryogenic cold, the team must find commercial components that perform to extremes far beyond their published spec sheets. This week an Asus netbook entered the cryo-freezer to see if its Intel Atom processor would bounce back from the ordeal. (See photos below)

The team brought the board’s temperature down by 1 degree C per minute until it reached -180 degrees C. After 30 minutes there, it was warmed at the same rate to reach room temperature. The Asus then successfully booted up Windows and displayed a Word document. Now that basic functionality is shown, the team will vary the rate and duration of the cold and then subject the Atom to more rigorous tests of proper operation after it is thawed.

New NASA budget to accelerate space careers

alex.gutierrez — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:24:28 +0000

NASA’s top education official has noted an important upside to the agency’s revolutionary new budget. Because the new plan fosters entrepreneurial exploration projects, young professionals at these new space companies will take leadership roles far earlier in their careers than they would at old-line aerospace companies. Dr. Joyce Winterton, the agency’s assistant administrator for education, made the comment yesterday at a meeting of the education and public outreach advisory committee of the NASA Advisory Council attended by Astrobotic Technology. Her comment was part of a talk on providing “authentic” opportunities to students to participate in developing space-relevant projects, rather than just simulating an effort. Former CNN space expert Miles O’Brien chairs the education/outreach panel.

Demonstrating 3D views of the Moon

david.gump — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 03:51:49 +0000

The Astrobotic team won “best in show” at the the Society of Women Engineers’ Showcase Feb. 15 at Carnegie Mellon’s University Center, distributing custom red-cyan glasses to that visitors could enjoy stereo images from the Apollo program — demonstrating the vivid imagery that will be returned by the Astrobotic lunar rover expedition.

Team moves into Planetary Robotics Lab

david.gump — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:42:17 +0000

The ground floor of the new Gates-Hillman Center for Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon is devoted to the 5,000 square foot Planetary Robotics Lab. The PRL includes a 3,000 square foot high bay with computer controlled crane for engineering and experimentation, along with workrooms for fabrication of robots and their components.

While the Gates-Hillman building was opened for most uses in fall 2009, move-in to the PRL took place last week as the last of the construction company gear and furniture staging areas cleared out.

Robot arm begins carving composite mold

david.gump — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:37:32 +0000

The Astrobotic team at Carnegie Mellon University brought a new computer-controlled robot arm into operation last month by loading up CAD files of the camera unit that will ride atop the mast at the rover’s center. The arm carved away foam to create a mold to be used for carbon composite layups to create the framework that will hold two wide-field HD cameras for 3D imagery plus a telephoto zoom HD camera.

In the photo, the mold is approximately 18 inches long and five inches tall.

Lunar Expo at Carnegie Mellon

david.gump — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:41:34 +0000

The Astrobotic team invited the wider Carnegie Mellon community of faculty and students to a Lunar Rover Expo Jan. 13 at the new Bill Gates Computer Sciences Bldg. More than 150 turned out, and more than 60 signed up to learn more about the effort. The Expo started with a 3D show of stereo Apollo images and stereo CAD renderings of the hardware now in development by CMU and Astrobotic.

A key to winning the Google Lunar X Prize bonus for night survival is finding and testing batteries able to come back to life after two weeks of cryogenic cold. Astrobotic and CMU are testing batteries designed for hybrid cars (in green on the table trays), and finding many bounce back with undamaged ability to hold charges on the second lunar day.