NASA camera captures Blue Ghost lander’s interaction with the moon’s surface

Say cheese again, Moon. Let’s take a close-up again.

For the second time in less than a year, NASA technology designed to collect data about the lunar lander’s rocket plume and its interaction with the moon’s surface has been used for the benefit of humanity at the closest point to Earth. We are going to make a long journey to our heavenly neighbors.

Developed at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume Surface Study (SCALPSS) is an array of cameras placed around the bottom of the lunar module during descent and landing. Collect images after.

Langley University researchers use a technique called stereophotogrammetry to create a 3D view of a surface using overlapping images from the SCALPSS version on Firefly’s Blue Ghost (SCALPSS 1.1).

The previous version, SCALPSS 1.0, was aboard Intuitive Machines’ spacecraft Odysseus, which landed on the moon last February. Due to a mission contingency that occurred during landing, SCALPSS 1.0 was unable to collect plume-surface interaction images. But the team is confident in 1.1’s hardware, as it was able to operate the payload during transport and on the lunar surface after landing.

The SCALPSS 1.1 payload carries two additional cameras (6 total compared to 4 in SCALPSS 1.0) to capture images at higher altitudes before the expected onset of plume-surface interactions. Start shooting to provide more accurate before and after images. After comparison.

These images of the moon’s surface are more than just a technological novelty. As trips to the moon increase and the number of payloads landing in close proximity to each other increases, scientists and engineers need to be able to accurately predict the impact of landings.

How much does the surface change? What will happen if the lunar soil, or regolith, is thrown out as the lander descends? Because limited data has been collected to date during descent and landing, SCALPSS will investigate the interaction between plumes and the surface on the Moon. It will be the first dedicated instrument to measure the effects of action in real time and help answer these questions.

“Placing things like landers and habitats close to each other can mean sandblasting what’s next to them, increasing the requirements to protect other assets on the surface and increasing the mass That mass is rippling through the architecture,” said Michelle, SCALPSS principal investigator and acting chief architect for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Munk said. “It’s all part of an integrated engineering problem.”

Under NASA’s current approach to lunar exploration, the Artemis campaign, the agency is working with commercial and international partners to establish the first extended stay on the lunar surface.

Delivering more than 200 pounds of NASA science experiments and technology demonstrations, SCALPSS 1.1 will deliver images from before the lander’s plume begins to interact with the surface until landing is complete. Start capturing.

The final images will be collected in a small onboard data storage unit before being transmitted to the lander for downlink to Earth. The team is expected to take at least two months to process the images, verify the data, and generate a 3D digital elevation map of the Earth’s surface. The erosion caused by the lander they are expected to uncover probably won’t be that deep — not this time, anyway.

Rob Maddock, SCALPSS project manager at Langley University, said: “Even if you look at the old Apollo images, the Apollo manned lander was larger than the new robotic lander. It takes quite a bit to see where the erosion occurred. We need to watch it carefully.” “We’re expecting something a few centimeters deep, maybe an inch or so. It really depends on the landing site, the depth of the regolith, and the location of the bedrock.”

But this is a chance for researchers to see how well SCALPSS performs as the United States moves forward with its Manned Landing System as part of NASA’s plan to further explore the moon’s surface.

“They’re going to be much bigger than Apollo. They’re big engines, and they’ll probably dig some good-sized holes,” Maddock said. “That’s what we’re doing. We’re collecting data that can be used to test models that predict what will happen.”

NASA is working with several American companies to bring science and technology to the lunar surface under the CLPS initiative. Through this opportunity, various companies from a select group of vendors will bid to deliver payloads to NASA, including everything from payload integration and operation to launch from Earth and landing on the moon. .