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Project Morpheus: Lean Development of a Terrestrial Flight Testbed for Maturing NASA Lander TechnologiesNASA's Morpheus Project has developed and tested a prototype planetary lander capable of vertical takeoff and landing that is designed to serve as a testbed for advanced spacecraft technologies. The lander vehicle, propelled by a Liquid Oxygen (LOX)/Methane engine and sized to carry a 500kg payload to the lunar surface, provides a platform for bringing technologies from the laboratory into an integrated flight system at relatively low cost. In 2012, Morpheus began integrating the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) sensors and software onto the vehicle in order to demonstrate safe, autonomous landing and hazard avoidance. From the beginning, one of goals for the Morpheus Project was to streamline agency processes and practices. The Morpheus project accepted a challenge to tailor the traditional NASA systems engineering approach in a way that would be appropriate for a lower cost, rapid prototype engineering effort, but retain the essence of the guiding principles. This paper describes the tailored project life cycle and systems engineering approach for the Morpheus project, including the processes, tools, and amount of rigor employed over the project's multiple lifecycles since the project began in fiscal year (FY) 2011.
Document ID
20140017130
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Devolites, Jennifer L. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Olansen, Jon B. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
December 8, 2014
Publication Date
January 5, 2015
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Report/Patent Number
JSC-CN-32448
Meeting Information
Meeting: SciTech 2015
Location: Kissimmee, FL
Country: United States
Start Date: January 5, 2015
End Date: January 9, 2015
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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