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#40
by
Jansen
on 31 May, 2021 10:46
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#41
by
Comga
on 31 May, 2021 22:49
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https://twitter.com/Int_Machines/status/1395806848742199299
If this is the standard Laser Retroreflector Array for CLPS, it is a spherical mounting of eight circular half-inch "corner cube" reflecting prisms.
From an article in Applied Optics:
A set of small and lightweight LRA was fabricated and tested for use on lunar landers under CLPS program. Each LRA contains eight 1.27-cm-diameter corner cubes on a dome-shaped aluminum structure. The LRA is 5.0 cm in diameter at the base, 1.6 cm in height, and 20 g in mass.
The multiple reflectors ensure that as long as the mounting surface is roughly pointed a the Earth, like the top surface on a lander not at the lunar limb, at least one will be effective at returning light to an Earth based laser source.
These are designed to be found with orbiting laser altimeters, like the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter on LRO.
Are any functioning in lunar orbit or planned?
Another one of these was on the Beresheet lunar lander from Israel that crashed. It might yet be detectable with one of those laser rangefinders.
The Firefly CLPS lander is planned to get a single 110 mm Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector. This is designed to be ranged from the Earth. As the return signal goes as the fourth power of the diameter, this would produce a return around 10,000 as the CLPS LRA, but it will have to be pointed at Earth with precision of a few degrees. However, even that one won't be easy to find.
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#42
by
Jansen
on 23 Jun, 2021 19:24
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#43
by
gongora
on 15 Aug, 2021 21:00
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Intuitive Machines provided a payload manifest for the NOVA-C including various government and commercial payloads which will be used for experiments on the surface of the Moon. In particular, the SPACEBIT Rover was to operate on the surface of the Moon using conventional 802.11x frequencies in the 5 GHz band with a range of tens of meters. Intuitive Machines hereby updates the application to remove the SPACEBIT Rover payload from the mission.
...
Intuitive Machines hereby updates the Commission regarding the launch phase of the mission. As noted in the Application narrative, the NOVA-C will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, Block 5 rocket in early 2022. Rather than enter a 19-hour lunar transfer orbit (“LTO”) as previously described, the NOVA-C lunar lander will instead take a direct trajectory to the Moon through a trans-lunar injection (“TLI”) burn.
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#44
by
Spirit47
on 19 Aug, 2021 15:52
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What are the launch windows in Q1-2022?
Are they identical to that of the SLS ?
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#45
by
BrianNH
on 03 Nov, 2021 14:02
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#46
by
StraumliBlight
on 03 Nov, 2021 17:05
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https://twitter.com/Int_Machines/status/1455950148069113861We've chosen an oxygen & methane propulsion engine for our lander; a route that, until now, has only been ground tested so we've adapted a basic approach to burn down the cyro-propellent risks on IM-1. We can then share our data w/NASA to help buy down in-space risk for everyone.
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#47
by
SpeakertoAnimals
on 03 Nov, 2021 17:29
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https://twitter.com/Int_Machines/status/1395806848742199299
If this is the standard Laser Retroreflector Array for CLPS, it is a spherical mounting of eight circular half-inch "corner cube" reflecting prisms.
From an article in Applied Optics:
A set of small and lightweight LRA was fabricated and tested for use on lunar landers under CLPS program. Each LRA contains eight 1.27-cm-diameter corner cubes on a dome-shaped aluminum structure. The LRA is 5.0 cm in diameter at the base, 1.6 cm in height, and 20 g in mass.
The multiple reflectors ensure that as long as the mounting surface is roughly pointed a the Earth, like the top surface on a lander not at the lunar limb, at least one will be effective at returning light to an Earth based laser source.
These are designed to be found with orbiting laser altimeters, like the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter on LRO.
Are any functioning in lunar orbit or planned?
Another one of these was on the Beresheet lunar lander from Israel that crashed. It might yet be detectable with one of those laser rangefinders.
The Firefly CLPS lander is planned to get a single 110 mm Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector. This is designed to be ranged from the Earth. As the return signal goes as the fourth power of the diameter, this would produce a return around 10,000 as the CLPS LRA, but it will have to be pointed at Earth with precision of a few degrees. However, even that one won't be easy to find.
Corner cube prisms don't require precise alignment, they will reflect a beam back to the source at an off-angle up to 45 degrees. They are used in surveying for distance measuring.
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#48
by
Comga
on 04 Nov, 2021 01:54
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Corner cube prisms don't require precise alignment, they will reflect a beam back to the source at an off-angle up to 45 degrees. They are used in surveying for distance measuring.
Your first statement is correct but that cut-off is more subtle, and relayed to the interior index of refraction and the geometry of the prism and mounting.
There are papers, one on particular from the 1970’s in Optical Engineering, that show how to calculate the effectiveness of that reflectivity, or cross-section, as a function of off-axis angle.
An approximation can be had by imagining the prism as a tunnel made with an identical prism mounted tip-to-tip. The size of the beam that can get through the tunnel, refraction and all, vignetting from the mount included, is related to that cross section, although the fall-off is about twice as fast as the raw area ratio.
That’s why they need 8 to assure performance over most of the forward hemisphere.
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#49
by
Phil Stooke
on 05 Nov, 2021 06:07
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A little bit more about that Doge-1 mission launching with IM-1:
https://dogelabs.io/doge1/Quote:
"DOGE-1 Moon Mission will deploy a small CubeSat in orbit that will be equipped with a camera to record video of the pixel display screen that will play advertisements.
Video of the ads will be livestreamed from the CubeSat to social media platforms like Twitch and YouTube.
That's right! You can post your ads in orbit around the moon."That's OK then. I was afraid it might be something frivolous.
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#50
by
SimonFD
on 07 Jan, 2022 14:25
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#51
by
kdhilliard
on 18 Jan, 2022 17:46
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Per an
Eric Berger tweet, Jim Free's presentation at today's NAC (NASA Advisory Council) meeting indicates that this mission remains on schedule for Q1-2022:
Intuitive Machines' CLPS Flight -- First Quarter 2022
Suite of robotic NASA payloads sent lunar surface as part of a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) delivery; lunar landing in the following weeks
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#52
by
wannamoonbase
on 18 Jan, 2022 18:55
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Great to know that it's still on tap for Q1.
I am so excited for the first CLPS payloads to the Moon's surface. I'm 49 years old next month and the US has not soft landed on the moon in my lifetime. That needs to be corrected!
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#53
by
Phil Stooke
on 21 Jan, 2022 06:36
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Yes, good to know, though there is still much that is uncertain about the mission so I hope we get a good launch press kit soon.
For instance the landing site is constantly changing. At the LEAG meeting in 2019 they described a site in Mare Serenitatis near the crater Sulpicius Gallus. In a press kit released in 2020 they showed a site on the Aristarchus Plateau, but in FCC filings in 2021 they talked about landing near the middle of Mare Serenitatis at 22 north, 17 east. The manifest is evolving too, with Spacebit apparently off it now, per a post above, and the Moon Mark rover race possibly on IM-2 if it happens at all. The brave new world of commercial space!
When would we expect delivery to the launch site for a launch in late March?
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#54
by
realnouns
on 24 Jan, 2022 13:30
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#55
by
Spiffles
on 24 Jan, 2022 14:08
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Next Spaceflight changed NET date from April 2022 to February 2022
https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/1915
April NET was put in due to lack of news, but the NAC presentation showed it was on schedule for Q1, so the NET was updated accordingly.
Edit: Clarification
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#56
by
Phil Stooke
on 24 Jan, 2022 18:02
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If they are launching in February 2022, i.e. a month from now, wouldn't we expect the spacecraft to be at the Cape already? Or at least packing up for shipping. But IM's frequent tweets give no indication of that. I would think March is more likely the earliest date.
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#57
by
gongora
on 24 Jan, 2022 18:19
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I also would expect some of those dates from the NAC presentation to be stale, especially for commercial stuff like CLPS.
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#58
by
scr00chy
on 26 Jan, 2022 22:04
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#59
by
zubenelgenubi
on 16 Feb, 2022 18:33
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What requirement or requirements does this launch have to stipulate using LC-39A?