Author Archives: David Gump

The Astrobotic spacecraft/lander requires an attitude control system (ACS) to keep itself oriented correctly on the flight to the Moon and during the nerve-wracking descent to the surface. “Black Magic” is the development system to lest the ACS’ sensors and algorithms with cold gas thrusters in place of the hot gas thrusters that will be… {read more}

The composite structure of the rover and lander will be baked with heat coming directly from the Sun, and reflected up from the hot lunar soil. To reflect as much radiation as possible, the Astrobotic team is experimenting with bonding a top Mylar foil layer on to the composite sandwich of carbon fiber fabric and… {read more}

The Astrobotic Moon robot, Red Rover, is profiled in this shot taken at a Pittsburgh-area slag heap (waste rock left over from a steel mill), a site selected for its resemblance to the lunar surface.

This week the Astrobotic team deployed Red Rover’s third prototype in a Pittsburgh-area slag heap to begin evaluating its ability to handle outdoor terrain with loose rocks and challenging slopes. (Slag heaps are fields of waste rock left over from the refining of iron ore at steel mills.) This lunar-like terrain enabled a great photo… {read more}

Astrobotic and its partners at Carnegie Mellon University presented their technical developments several times this week at the NASA exploration workshop in Galveston and at Johnson Space Center in Houston, showing advancements in operating throughout the lunar day, surviving hibernation during the long lunar night, and unstoppable mobility solutions. Dr. Red Whittaker, Astrobotic’s chairman and… {read more}