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Beam testing

Astrobotic — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:38:50 -0800

Beam testing

This composite beam failed intentionally during testing. The carbon sheathing delaminated from its honeycomb core. The test loads a simply-supported beam with two equal forces. The result is moment without shear at the center and shear without moment at the end. This is a standard means for evaluating beam performance.

From AstroboticBlogPhotos

Refractory Motors

rpspeck — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:11:58 -0800

We have begun fabrication work with refractory (high melting temperature) C-103 alloy. This Columbium (Niobium) alloy is the most common material used to make “Radiation Cooled” (otherwise uncooled) rocket motors. It is used in all long life spacecraft motors, and was very visible in the webcasts of the SpaceX Falcon 1 launch vehicle. The entire engine and nozzle of the Falcon 1 second stage are made from this material. It glowed red during the launch. This is, however, far below the service temperature limit of this alloy. It retains usable strength to at least 3000 degrees F (1648 C), well above the “White Hot” melting point of Iron!

This alloy is an essential replacement for the Stainless Steel in our current Hydrogen Peroxide – Methanol motors. Switching to high concentration Peroxide will push the combustion temperature much higher than the Steel can handle. The combustion temperature of the Peroxide fuel is relatively modest (compared to LOX reactions), but the performance is good for a “Storable” propellant. Peroxide gives Specific Impulse virtually identical to “Nitrogen Tetroxide” combustion with the same fuel component, with low toxicity and lower combustion temperature.

Using this allow will allow us to continue to use our simple, reliable, no moving part motor designs with higher performance fuel. The high concentration peroxide will allow acceleration to near escape velocity, orbital insertion at the Moon, and landing with an overall ten to one mass ratio: 10 kg landed on the Moon starting with 100 kg in Earth Orbit. The very low mass of our fuel tanks and control systems make these numbers quite achievable. I had not initially anticipated that we would be able to win the Google Lunar X PRIZE starting with only 1/10 of the Falcon 1 Payload mass in orbit, but that now seems to be a HIGH estimate of the requirement.

The C-103 alloy is surprising easy to form and work with. It resembles a sheet of Stainless Steel, but is as soft as a sheet of annealed Iron. Reportedly, it can be reliably TIG welded in shielding gas, and we will attempt that soon.

Our development strategy remains “Last Stage First!”. A deeply embedded “Mantra” in the professional Space Community is that a “Second Stage ALWAYS Costs More than the First Stage.” There are reasons why this is a tolerable - and possibly optimum situation. However, it is not automatically true, and certainly was not true for the “Juno 1”, used to launch the US “Explorer 1” in 1958. Given that “Mantra”, only success with the upper stages and guidance systems of our GLXP system will make “Professional” evaluation of our plans meaningful, with proper emphasis on the dominant, “Off the Shelf” launch cost to orbit. At some point, even visionary investors usually get input from “Professionals”.

Motors and gears for Jaluro

acsete — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 05:42:29 -0800

Maxon motors and gears for Jaluro. Maxon motors and gears were also used by NASA during the Phoenix mission on Mars.

Team STELLAR Announcements

stellar — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:11:46 -0800

Team STELLAR recently held another in a series of all-hands meetings, which included all our volunteers and core team management. The core team had been working on a number of issues which arose from the previous meeting and provided the following updates to our volunteers at the recent meeting:

• We expect and intend to split ALL the prize money with the volunteer organization. Team STELLAR volunteers will receive a pro-rated share of the GLXP prize money, based on a formula that will consider length of time with Team STELLAR and the final number of volunteers still in regular attendance of Stellar meetings. Also, we expect that there will be bonuses for special achievements. We may need to use some of the prize money to attract funding, and there will be many details to work out, moving forward, but we feel that this is an important policy to initiate.

• Team STELLAR remains a non-profit volunteer-driven function of the Advanced Aerospace Resource Center. AARC is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with, in the case of Stellar, a narrowly-defined scope limited to research and some preliminary design. This research and solutions will be, per the mandate of the non-profit 501(c)(3) AARC, published and made available to the public, and should be considered open source content, available to any and all existing or start-up companies.

• It is vital to never forget that we are locked in competition with 13 other teams, and that winning requires arriving first on the Moon. Stiff competition necessitates a philosophy that emphasizes buying commercially available off the shelf components and developing solutions in the most economic and quickest fashion possible. Therefore, product development, testing and engineering is purely the responsibility of the companies that AARC will be contracting to in the coming two years. You and other volunteers may choose to start your own entrepreneurial start-ups and/or may choose to offer your services as a independent contractor to one of the companies that AARC will contract to.

• One of the companies that will be contracting to AARC is the recently formed EarthSpace Commerce Corporation (ESCC), but it is not the only for-profit organization that will be supplying Team Stellar with products and services. A primary role of ESCC is the administration and management of Team STELLAR’s activity and output to achieve a successful bid for the Google Lunar X Prize. We hope that ESCC, born out of the initiative of several Team Stellar volunteers, will serve as a model for your own entrepreneurial aspirations.

• Although developing products and selling them in the marketplace will be the mandate of ESCC and the other for-profit affiliates, other for-profit affiliates will have the same opportunity to develop these products out of this research as any other company or organization with access to AARC’s open-source research results. We see this as starting a new chapter in commercialization of Space. The old ways are done and dying. The modality of open source revolutionized the software Industry, and there's no reason to believe that it won't do the same in the NewSpace industry.

• Finally, we are ramping up our fund-raising efforts to pay for this endeavor. We have added a new member of our team in that regard. In addition to donations, sponsorships, advertisements, etc., we are considering filming a documentary.

- Richard Dell

Happy Thanksgiving - Omega Envoy

RubenNunez — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:36:36 -0800

From Omega Envoy

First Thruster Tests

acsete — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:57:13 -0800

Team FREDNET members in Australia have been very busy building the first prototype of the Ground Hovering Test Vehicle. This video shows the first closed loop tests of one of the three thrusters mounted on the prototype, using compressed air, a single axis gyro, and a PID controller. Apparently, the PID controller software will need some tuning, but it's nice to see it moving :-)

You can follow the progress of the Team FREDNET Ground Hovering Test Vehicle in our public forum.

Sneak Peak at Omega Envoy's New Office

Jdunn — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:14:26 -0800

We just moved into our new office at the University of Central Florida Research Park. The office is an ideal setting for students and professionals to meet and work together on this project. We look forward to a lot of good things coming out of our new office.

Team FREDNET partnership with Elphel, Inc.

acsete — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:47:51 -0800

Team FREDNET is happy to announce to have established a longterm partnership with Elphel Inc. Elphel, Inc. was started in 2001 and is today a major provider and developer of flexible high-end imaging solutions providing high performance cameras and turn-key solutions based on free, open source software and hardware designs.

Freedom of the users is top priority to Elphel. Elphel values and protects this freedom with the GNU General Public License that covers all the Elphel software and hardware designs. This freedom extends from the convenience of the out-of-the-box usage of the cameras with the intuitive GUI to the possibility to modify any parts of them. It protects the user rights to create and distribute derivative products based on Elphel designs. Elphel's philosophy fits perfectly with Team FREDNET, since both work and live by the open source principles.

Elphel will provide camera systems to Team FREDNET who will modify and integrate them into the lunar rover prototypes that are currently under development.

Links:

It's been fun!

Mystery Team — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:50:58 -0800

"Patience is the ability to count down before you blast off." - Author Unknown

The countdown has begun and soon the nameless faces of the Mystery Team members will be unveiled. But I must admit, it's been fun attending events such as Airventure and the AGI conference "incognito". I think I speak for all the Mystery Team members when I say, we are ready for what's Next!

MikeJ - Founding member of the Mystery Team

From Rocket Fuel Tanks to Zero-G Coffee Cups

acsete — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:17:19 -0800

It appears that STS-126 astronaut Don Pettit had some spare time Sunday to resume his Saturday Morning Science experiments, which he conducted during his previous stay on the ISS back in 2002/2003. This time he demonstrated an improved version of the Zero-G Coffee Cup inspired by techniques used in liquid fuel tank designs.

Video credit: collectSPACE.

You can find a video compilation of the very interesting Saturday Morning Science experiments here. By the way, did YouTube switch to HD during the weekend?