Astrobotic is one of three companies NASA has signed agreements with for the Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (Lunar CATALYST) program.
“The purpose of the Lunar CATALYST initiative is for NASA to encourage the development of U.S. private-sector robotic lunar landers capable of successfully delivering small (30 to 100 kg) and medium (250 to 500 kg) class payloads to the lunar surface using U.S. commercial launch capabilities,” the agreement states.
“This no-funds-exchanged Space Act Agreement (SAA) with the Partner enables provision and coordination of NASA in-kind contributions at no cost to the Partner, of NASA civil servant technical expertise, access to NASA test facilities, the loaning of equipment, and software,” the agreement adds.
The program, which began three years ago, was recently extended another two years for all three partners. Below is an update on Astrobotic’s progress and a list of upcoming milestones.
| ASTROBOTIC LUNAR CATALYST MILESTONES | |||
| NO. | MILESTONE | DATE | STATUS |
| 1 | Kickoff Meeting Subsequent to Space Act Agreement execution and initiation of the Lunar CATALYST program, Astrobotic shall host a kickoff meeting to describe the plan for program implementation, which includes status and plan for Design, Development, Testing, & Evaluation (DDT&E), integrated schedule, financing, supplier engagement, risks and anticipated mitigations Success criterion: Successful completion of the kickoff review as described above. | September 2014 | Complete |
| 2 | Validation of Visual Navigation and Hazard Avoidance on Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) rocket Astrobotic will run visual navigation and hazard avoidance on a prototype landing sensor on a VTVL rocket simulating the final 250m of descent to touchdown. Visual navigation and hazard detection and avoidance will run closed loop. Success criterion: Landing sensor and software runs real time, determines position with sufficient accuracy for guidance and successfully selects a safe landing location. | November 2014 | Completed |
| 3 | Environmental qualification of Engineering Design Unit (EDU) sensor head and motor control testbeds Astrobotic will perform environmental qualification of engineering development units of a motor control system and sensor head for the lunar lander. Success criterion: Electronics survive environmental testing. Critical software elements demonstrated to run at required rates. | December 2014 | Completed |
| 4 | Environmental qualification of EDU processor for landing Astrobotic will perform environmental qualification of engineering development units of the processing electronics for lunar lander. Success criterion: Electronics qualified to survive mission environment. Critical software elements demonstrated to run at required rates. | December 2014 | Completed |
| 5 | Financial Milestone 1 Astrobotic will raise at least an amount in the door for robotic lunar lander development in 2014 (Jan-Dec) that is consistent with the 2014 lander development numbers included in Appendix B.7 of the Lunar CATALYST proposal, calculated by summing first lunar mission costs in 2014 for all WBS items 1.0-5.0 in total dollars. This value is calculated as revenue plus financing minus any payments for launch vehicle procurement or expenditures not relevant to lunar capabilities. Success criterion: All necessary documentation is completed and total revenue plus financing is confirmed as evidenced by bank statement. | April 2015 | Completed |
| 6 | End-to-End Mission Simulation Astrobotic will develop a simulation of the intended lunar mission from launch through landing incorporating mission planning tools. Success criterion: Simulations must include verification of attitude control, trajectory planning, pose estimation, and fuel usage from launch to landing. | April 2015 | Completed |
| 8 | Validation of beta flight software with engineering units of sensing and computing hardware Astrobotic will perform validation of engineering units of landing sensing and computing in a test flight. Success criterion: Visual navigation, hazard detection, and landing site selection software operate online during flight on engineering units of sensors and computing. | January 2016 | Competed |
| 9 | Main engine and Reaction Control System (RCS) hot fire tests Astrobotic will perform hotfire static and vacuum chamber tests on lander main engine and RCS enginesSuccess criterion: Engines demonstrate capability to execute lunar landing trajectory. | June 2016 | Partially Completed. Main engine hotfire completed |
| 7 | Critical Design Review (CDR) Astrobotic shall conduct a System CDR in accordance with the CDR definition. Success criterion: The design presented describes detailed form, fit, and function characteristics; the selected functional characteristics designated for acceptance testing; and the acceptance test requirements. | April 2018 | |
| 9-1 | Reaction Control System (RCS) hot fire test Astrobotic will perform hot-fire static and vacuum chamber tests on RCS engine Success criterion: Characterize RCS engine performance under temperature and vacuum conditions. | May 2018 | |
| 10 | Financial Milestone 2 Astrobotic will raise at least an amount in the door for robotic lunar lander development that is consistent with the 2014-2015 lander development numbers included in Appendix B.7 of the Lunar CATALYST proposal, calculated by summing first lunar mission costs for all WBS items 1.0-5.0 in total dollars. This value is calculated as revenue plus financing minus any payments for launch vehicle procurement or expenditures not relevant to lunar capabilities. Success criterion: All necessary documentation is completed and total revenue plus financing is confirmed as evidenced by bank statement. | June 2018 | |
| 11 | Lander Propulsion Qualification Test Astrobotic will perform a terrestrial qualification test of their lunar lander propulsion system. Success criterion: Propulsion system demonstrates capability to execute lunar landing trajectory. | September 2018 | |
| 12 | Primary Structure Complete Peregrine Primary Flight Structure hardware complete and ready for integration with avionics, propulsion, and other subsystem hardware. Success criterion: Astrobotic SR&MA approves Primary Structure completion prior to integration. | October 2018 | |
| 13 | Hardware in the loop end-to-end simulation Astrobotic will perform an end-to-end simulation of the lunar landing with engineering unit hardware in the loop Success criterion: Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing complete on full mission profile. | December 2018 | |
| 14 | Financial Milestone 3 Astrobotic will raise at least an amount in the door for robotic lunar lander development that is consistent with the 2014-2016 lander development numbers included in Appendix B.7 of the Lunar CATALYST proposal, calculated by summing first lunar mission costs for all WBS items 1.0-5.0 in total dollars. This value is calculated as revenue plus financing minus any payments for launch vehicle procurement or expenditures not relevant to lunar capabilities. Success criterion: All necessary documentation is completed and total | December 2018 | |
| 15 | Kickoff for Second Mission Astrobotic shall conduct a Kickoff Review for a second mission with the lander reconfigured for a mission carrying a medium class lunar surface payload. Astrobotic shall host a kickoff meeting to describe the plan for program/implementation, which includes status and plan for DDT&E, integrated schedule, financing, supplier engagement, risks and anticipated mitigations Success criterion: Successful completion of the kickoff review as | June 2019 | |
| 16 | Test Readiness Review and Flight Lander Assembled Astrobotic will assemble a flight-ready lunar lander and perform a Test Readiness Review to assess readiness for environmental testing. Success criterion: The as-built state of the lander is described including the detailed form, fit, and function of the system as it was built and the detailed testing plan is presented. | July 2019 | |
| 17 | Lunar Lander Environment Testing Complete Astrobotic will perform environmental testing including thermal vacuum, shake, mass properties, and electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic compatibility (EMI/EMC) to validate flight-readiness of the lunar lander Success criterion: Lander passes flight environmental testing to validate flight readiness. Result is a flight-ready lander with the capability to deliver small and medium class payloads to the Moon. | September 2019 | |