11:45 AM - 12:00 PM
[S19-2-06] Technical Readiness of Japanese lunar penetrator and its application to small-class space program: APPROACH
invited
A hard landing probe “penetrator" has been thought to be a very useful tool for constitution of network stations on the planetary surfaces and subsurface, because it provides light-weight and cost-effective capabilities of deploying scientific instruments.
The Japanese LUNAR-A penetrator project was started in 1993 and we had been continuing the development of penetrator system and the related subsystem such as a de-orbit motor, attitude control unit and tele-communication system for remote operation. Although the LUNAR-A project was officially cancelled in 2007, we had made a completion of development in penetrator probe in 2010, with a great deal of difficulties.
In these years, the follow-on mission to utilize the penetrator technology has been considered for the Japanese space program and/or within the framework of international collaborations. As the first attempt, we propose a new mission named as APPROACH (Advanced Penetrator PRObe Applied for a Challenge of Hard-landing) using a Japanese small launcher “Epsilon rocket". The APPROACH spacecraft will consists of a spin-stabilized orbiter and the LUNAR-A like single probe or two miniaturized probes with a de-orbit motor/attitude control system, and its total weight is assumed to be less than 300 kg excluding fuel, due to the limited capability of the Epsilon rocket.
After insertion of lunar orbit, one or two penetrator modules will be separated from the spacecraft and deployed on the lunar surface with an impact velocity of 300 m/sec or less. The probe(s) will penetrate into the lunar regolith up to 2 or 3 meters, and collect seismic events and heat-flow data during one-year operation at the maximum.
In this paper, we report the technical readiness of lunar penetrator and design details of APPROACH spacecraft, and then, we describe the international collaboration on this mission (simultaneous monitoring of impact flashes by ground-based and/or space telescopes).
The Japanese LUNAR-A penetrator project was started in 1993 and we had been continuing the development of penetrator system and the related subsystem such as a de-orbit motor, attitude control unit and tele-communication system for remote operation. Although the LUNAR-A project was officially cancelled in 2007, we had made a completion of development in penetrator probe in 2010, with a great deal of difficulties.
In these years, the follow-on mission to utilize the penetrator technology has been considered for the Japanese space program and/or within the framework of international collaborations. As the first attempt, we propose a new mission named as APPROACH (Advanced Penetrator PRObe Applied for a Challenge of Hard-landing) using a Japanese small launcher “Epsilon rocket". The APPROACH spacecraft will consists of a spin-stabilized orbiter and the LUNAR-A like single probe or two miniaturized probes with a de-orbit motor/attitude control system, and its total weight is assumed to be less than 300 kg excluding fuel, due to the limited capability of the Epsilon rocket.
After insertion of lunar orbit, one or two penetrator modules will be separated from the spacecraft and deployed on the lunar surface with an impact velocity of 300 m/sec or less. The probe(s) will penetrate into the lunar regolith up to 2 or 3 meters, and collect seismic events and heat-flow data during one-year operation at the maximum.
In this paper, we report the technical readiness of lunar penetrator and design details of APPROACH spacecraft, and then, we describe the international collaboration on this mission (simultaneous monitoring of impact flashes by ground-based and/or space telescopes).