MBRSC - Rashid Rover Mission patch.
Jan 12, 2023
The very first European technology to make contact with the surface of the Moon will be on the wheels of the Rashid rover, part of the Emirates Lunar Mission currently on the way to our natural satellite. The outer rims of this rover’s four wheels incorporate small sample panels to test how differing materials cope with the abrasive lunar surface, including a quartet of samples contributed by ESA.
Emirates Lunar Mission launch
Designed and developed at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) in Dubai, the Emirates Lunar Mission was launched by Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral on Sunday 11 December 2022. Heading to the Moon on a low-energy trajectory, the Rashid rover is scheduled to touch down on the lunar surface in April.
“The invitation to contribute to the Rashid rover’s wheel-based Material Adhesion and Abrasion Detection experiment was an offer we couldn’t refuse,” said Aidan Cowley of ESA’s ExPeRT (Exploration Preparation, Research and Technology) team, developing new technologies for human lunar and planetary exploration, based at the European Astronaut Centre in Germany.
Rashid rover
“This is a chance to touch the Moon for real, to see how material technologies that we have already been working on behave in the actual lunar environment. So we will see how they interact with the regolith as the wheels make contact with the surface, as well as enduring wider lunar conditions.”
ESA materials engineer Ugo Lafont, located at ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in the Netherlands, has also contributed: “The samples have been bonded to the outside of the rover’s magnesium alloy wheels. The rover’s high-resolution camera will inspect the sample panels over time, so we will be able to observe the incidence of factors such as abrasion, discolouration and whether dust stays stuck to the samples or not.”
Samples on rover wheels
At approximately 10 kg in mass, the chair-sized United Arab Emirates’ Rashid rover is equipped with one high resolution camera on its front mast and another mounted on its rear, as well as a microscopic camera and thermal imaging camera. It also carries a ‘Langmuir probe’ to sample the plasma environment prevailing just above the lunar surface.
Once delivered to the Moon by Japanese company Ispace’s Hakuto-R lunar lander, the solar powered vehicle will spend most of the 14-day lunar daytime exploring the Atlas Crater on the northeast of the Moon.
3D-printed PLA combined with lunar regolith
The rover’s wheel samples are the platform for the mission’s Material Adhesion and Abrasion Detection experiment – an international extension to the mission’s scientific footprint.
The Centre for Research and Engineering in Space Technologies of the Université libre de Bruxelles in Belgium contributed samples while also coordinating the sourcing of others from the Cambridge Graphene Centre of Cambridge University in the UK and York University in Canada, along with ESA. Additional wheel panels were contributed by other science partners around the globe.
Hakuto-R lunar lander
We had around six weeks to turn around our samples,” adds Ugo. “To choose was easy. I selected a 3D printed sample of PEEK thermoplastic, short for ‘Polyether ether ketone’, which is robust enough to substitute for metal parts in some circumstances and is known to resist the space environment. Then by adding nano-fillers such as graphene and carbon nano-tubes we can also make it electrically conductive – which might alter the incidence of dust clinging to the sample by static cling. Finally, the addition of these nano-fillers should also increase the material’s resistance to wear in a way that is very beneficial for such abrasive environment as the Moon’s surface.”
Seeking the best possible print quality, Ugo sought the help of Orion Additive Manufacturing in Germany: “This company is particularly adept at 3D printing in PEEK, so the sample has ended up as high quality as possible.”
Rashid rover
Aidan, similarly, selected materials his team was already working on: “We have 3D printed a composite material combining PLA – a popular plastic for 3D printing – with simulated lunar regolith. We also prepared one sample coated with melted lunar regolith, the theory being that this might work well as a surface coating to help deal with dust. Then we have a panel of composite fabrics, which might be considered for spacesuits in the future. We’re looking forward to seeing how they cope with lunar conditions in practice.”
The rover’s multi-needle Langmuir probe, extending from its body, is a MBRSC-integrated spin-off of an instrument due to be flown aboard the International Space Station soon, developed by a Norwegian team led by the University of Oslo and Eidsvoll Electronics with ESA backing.
Related articles:
ispace - Hakuto-R Lunar Lander Successfully Performs Maneuver
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/01/ispace-hakuto-r-lunar-lander.html
SpaceX - Falcon 9 launches HAKUTO-R M1 and Lunar Flashlight
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/12/spacex-falcon-9-launches-hakuto-r-m1.html
Related links:
Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC): https://www.mbrsc.ae/
Emirates Lunar Mission: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirates_Lunar_Mission
ESA’s ExPeRT (Exploration Preparation, Research and Technology): https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Business_with_ESA/Business_Opportunities/ExPeRT_Exploration_Preparation_Research_and_Technology
European Astronaut Centre: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Astronauts/The_European_Astronaut_Centre
ESA’s ESTEC: https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESTEC
Ispace’s Hakuto-R: https://ispace-inc.com/
Université libre de Bruxelles: https://www.ulb.be/
Cambridge Graphene Centre: https://www.graphene.cam.ac.uk/%20
Cambridge University: https://www.cam.ac.uk/
York University: https://www.yorku.ca/
Orion Additive Manufacturing: https://www.orion-am.com/
Space Engineering & Technology: https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology
Images, Text, Credits: ESA/SpaceX/MBRSC/Ispace.
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