Author Topic: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread  (Read 315187 times)

Offline A_M_Swallow

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #40 on: 04/05/2012 04:18 pm »
Quote
On Twitter from
Morpheus Lander

My team tells me I should be launching around 12:30PM CDT today.

______________________________________________________________________

We will be stream live video of today's test once we get closer to flight. Go to http://morpheuslander.jsc.nasa.gov/live now to get ready.


Offline mto

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #41 on: 04/05/2012 05:47 pm »
On Twitter from
Morpheus Lander

Quote
Ok everyone, we are now streaming live video

Offline A_M_Swallow

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #42 on: 04/05/2012 06:12 pm »
Pressurising at the moment.  Flight due within the next 15 minutes.

Offline A_M_Swallow

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #43 on: 04/05/2012 06:29 pm »
Test complete.  Good test.  They plan to fly again next week.

Offline clevelas

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #44 on: 04/05/2012 06:30 pm »
Sounds like a good test.  With the camera angle we got, it looked kinda wobbly (to me anyway).  Hopefully they know where _not_ to put the ground camera next time.  :)

Offline A_M_Swallow

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #45 on: 04/06/2012 10:11 pm »
Video of Tether Test #10 - basically hover for 60 seconds.



Project Morpheus is now part of the Advanced Exploration Systems program.

Offline savuporo

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #46 on: 04/06/2012 11:26 pm »
Wonder when will they let it off the leash ?
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Offline Mark S

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #47 on: 04/07/2012 12:27 am »
Hm, it still seems pretty wobbly to me. It was constantly swaying by the tether, or sliding sideways when it wasn't. Was it very windy today?

Not one of their better flights.

Offline Jim

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #48 on: 04/07/2012 01:29 am »

The current Morpheus aims to land 500 kg on the Moon when launched on an Atlas V.

No, Morpheus is a test bed and not a spaceflight vehicle.  It is not "aimed" to land anything on the moon.  The stated "capability" of landing 500kg is just another way of describing its size and propellant capacity.  It is just a test project and not a prototype of an actual lander.

Offline jongoff

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #49 on: 04/07/2012 02:14 am »
Hm, it still seems pretty wobbly to me. It was constantly swaying by the tether, or sliding sideways when it wasn't. Was it very windy today?

Not one of their better flights.

I was wondering that too. At Masten, once we had a flight or two worth of data on Xombie, we had it much more stable than that (except when we were flying in ~40knot winds).

Maybe it's due to the Quad-type architecture? I think their offset between the CG and the gimbal axes is pretty darn short, which means you don't get a lot of lever arm. And it's also tricky to get even depletion of the tanks, which probably causes problems too? Armadillo's quad vehicles always were less stable than their vertically oriented ones...

Not sure.

~Jon

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #50 on: 04/07/2012 04:22 am »
it still seems pretty wobbly

At Masten, once we had a flight or two worth of data on Xombie, we had it much more stable than that

Masten demonstrated astoundingly "tight" control of vehicle attitude. It was most evident when their vehicle moved from above the launch pad to above the landing pad: it showed no hesitation whatsoever, like it was saying, "No fear."

This vehicle's control is clearly much "looser."  That isn't necessarily a bad thing, and it isn't necessarily less stable in a theoretical sense.  It just looks less self-assured!
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Offline Robotbeat

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #51 on: 04/07/2012 04:24 am »
Hm, it still seems pretty wobbly to me. It was constantly swaying by the tether, or sliding sideways when it wasn't. Was it very windy today?

Not one of their better flights.

I was wondering that too. At Masten, once we had a flight or two worth of data on Xombie, we had it much more stable than that (except when we were flying in ~40knot winds).

Maybe it's due to the Quad-type architecture? I think their offset between the CG and the gimbal axes is pretty darn short, which means you don't get a lot of lever arm. And it's also tricky to get even depletion of the tanks, which probably causes problems too? Armadillo's quad vehicles always were less stable than their vertically oriented ones...

Not sure.

~Jon
You're one of the very few people in the world with such intimate first-hand knowledge of relatively routine VTVL, and you're asking us? ;)
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Offline kkattula

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #52 on: 04/07/2012 02:21 pm »
Hm, it still seems pretty wobbly to me. It was constantly swaying by the tether, or sliding sideways when it wasn't. Was it very windy today?

Not one of their better flights.

I was wondering that too. At Masten, once we had a flight or two worth of data on Xombie, we had it much more stable than that (except when we were flying in ~40knot winds).

Maybe it's due to the Quad-type architecture? I think their offset between the CG and the gimbal axes is pretty darn short, which means you don't get a lot of lever arm. And it's also tricky to get even depletion of the tanks, which probably causes problems too? Armadillo's quad vehicles always were less stable than their vertically oriented ones...

Not sure.

~Jon

It's interesting isn't it?  Could the ideal lunar lander be a 'traditional' tall cylindrical rocket? Maybe with cargo or crew in a torus around the base.

Offline A_M_Swallow

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #53 on: 04/07/2012 07:21 pm »
Maybe it's due to the Quad-type architecture? I think their offset between the CG and the gimbal axes is pretty darn short, which means you don't get a lot of lever arm. And it's also tricky to get even depletion of the tanks, which probably causes problems too? Armadillo's quad vehicles always were less stable than their vertically oriented ones...

When calculating how much to gimbal a Quad-type is the lack of symmetry allowed for?  There are no fuel tanks along the diagonals, so the same pitch along the diagonal may require less gimbolling than along the main axis.

Offline Prober

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #54 on: 04/07/2012 09:28 pm »
Who is the Contractor(s) on this and what fuels are they using?

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Offline Mark S

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #55 on: 04/07/2012 09:35 pm »
Who is the Contractor(s) on this and what fuels are they using?



From what I understand it is all in-house at JSC. I'm sure someone else here has more knowledge of that than me, though.

The fuel is methane and the oxidizer is LOX.

Mark S.

Edit: The Morpheus home page lists Armadillo Aerospace as a source of parts and expertise, but other than that it was designed and built all in-house.
« Last Edit: 04/07/2012 09:55 pm by Mark S »

Offline Robotbeat

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #56 on: 04/07/2012 10:55 pm »
Morpheus was built by Armadillo Aerospace.
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Offline A_M_Swallow

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #57 on: 04/08/2012 12:22 am »
Morpheus was built by Armadillo Aerospace.

It is more complicated than that.

The engines in Morpheus V1.0 and V1.5 were made by Armadillo Aerospace.  The software, fuel tanks and the structure appear to have been designed and built by JSC.  Pixel obviously inspired the designs.

Project Morpheus comes from Project M which assembled a version of Armadillo Aerospace's Pixel.  This is smaller than the current Morpheus.

The original Pixel built by Armadillo Aerospace came second in the 2009 Centennial Lunar Lander Challenge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Lander_Challenge

Offline Jason1701

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #58 on: 04/08/2012 03:56 am »
Purdue and (possibly) XCOR are working on a new engine for Morpheus.

Offline jongoff

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Re: Morpheus Lander Testing at JSC and KSC - Update Thread
« Reply #59 on: 04/08/2012 04:00 am »
Hm, it still seems pretty wobbly to me. It was constantly swaying by the tether, or sliding sideways when it wasn't. Was it very windy today?

Not one of their better flights.

I was wondering that too. At Masten, once we had a flight or two worth of data on Xombie, we had it much more stable than that (except when we were flying in ~40knot winds).

Maybe it's due to the Quad-type architecture? I think their offset between the CG and the gimbal axes is pretty darn short, which means you don't get a lot of lever arm. And it's also tricky to get even depletion of the tanks, which probably causes problems too? Armadillo's quad vehicles always were less stable than their vertically oriented ones...

Not sure.

~Jon
You're one of the very few people in the world with such intimate first-hand knowledge of relatively routine VTVL, and you're asking us? ;)

Well, I'm not a GN&C guy by any stretch of the imagination so I was curious if there was someone else lurking here that might have more controls insight. I'm just a recovering rocket plumber these days.

~Jon

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