Design of a Thermal and Micrometeorite Protection System for an Unmanned Lunar Cargo Lander

Hernandez, Carlos A.; Sunder, Sankar; Vestgaard, Baard

The first vehicles to land on the lunar surface during the establishment phase of a lunar base will be unmanned lunar cargo landers. These landers will need to be protected against the hostile lunar environment for six to twelve months until the next manned mission arrives. The lunar environment is characterized by large temperature changes and periodic micrometeorite impacts. An automatically deployable and reconfigurable thermal and micrometeorite protection system was designed for an unmanned lunar cargo lander. The protection system is a lightweight multilayered material consisting of alternating layers of thermal and micrometeorite protection material. The protection system is packaged and stored above the lander common module. After landing, the system is deployed to cover the lander using a system of inflatable struts that are inflated using residual fuel (liquid oxygen) from the fuel tanks. Once the lander is unloaded and the protection system is no longer needed, the protection system is reconfigured as a regolith support blanket for the purpose of burying and protecting the common module, or as a lunar surface garage that can be used to sort and store lunar surface vehicles and equipment. A model showing deployment and reconfiguration of the protection system was also constructed.

Document ID

19900015845

Acquisition Source

Legacy CDMS

Document Type

Contractor Report (CR)

Authors

Date Acquired

September 6, 2013

Publication Date

January 1, 1989

Subject Category

Report/Patent Number

Accession Number

90N25161

Funding Number(s)

Distribution Limits

Public

Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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