Browsing by Author "Bridges, Chris"
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Item Chemical Lidar Science Payload for the Lunar Volatile and Mineralogy Mapping Orbiter(2020 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2020-07-31) Kruzelecky, Roman; Murzionak, Piotr; Sinclair, Ian; Gao, Yang; Bridges, Chris; Luccafabris, Andrea; Cloutis, Edward; St-Amour, AmelieThe distribution and quantity of surficial in-situ lunar resources, such as water ice and ilmenite (FeTiO3), is currently highly uncertain. Moreover, planned near-future lunar orbiter missions are limited to a volatile-mapping spatial resolution of several km. VMMO, for Volatile and Mineralogy Mapping Orbiter, is a low-cost 12U Cubesat that comprises the Lunar Volatile and Mineralogy Mapper (LVMM) science payload, the Compact LunAr Ionizing Radiation Environment (CLAIRE) monitoring payload, a COTS electronics test bed, and the supporting 12U Cubesat bus with dual ion and cold-gas propulsion, direct-to-Earth S-band and 1560nm optical communications, on-board data processing and a suite of altitude and pointing sensors for semiautonomous, vision-assisted navigation. VMMO will most likely be deployed from a commercial lunar transportation provider, such as Astrobotics, and injected into a suitable near-polar orbit. On-board propulsion will be used to achieve a stable near-frozen polar orbit for the subsequent science operations. The compact LVMM is a multi-wavelength Chemical Lidar (<6.1 kg) using fiber lasers emitting simultaneously at 532nm, 1064nm and 1560nm, for stand-off mapping of lunar water/ice distribution using active laser illumination. The active measurements will focus on selected craters in the lunar South pole, such as Shackleton and Faustini, that contain permanently-shadowed regions that could shelter water ice deposits. This combination of spectral channels can provide very sensitive discrimination of water/ice to below 0.5% in various Mare and Highland regolith, based on pre-flight bread-board validations. The use of single-mode fiber lasers enables a spatial resolution of about 10m at the lunar surface. LVMM can also be used in a passive multispectral mode at 300nm, 532nm, 1064nm and 1560nm to map the lunar ilmenite in-situ resource distribution during the lunar day using known characteristics of surface-reflected solar illumination. This paper discusses the VMMO augmented science configuration and the resultant mission architecture and data products.Item VMMO Lunar Volatile and Mineralogy Mapping Orbiter(48th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2018-07-08) Kruzelecky, Roman; Murzionak, Piotr; Lavoie, Jonathan; Sinclair, Ian; Schinn, Gregory; Underwood, Craig; Gao, Yang; Bridges, Chris; Armellin, Roberto; Luccafabris, Andrea; Cloutis, Edward; Leijtens, JohanUnderstanding the lunar near-surface distribution of relevant in-situ resources, such as ilmenite (FeTiO3), and volatiles, such as water/ice, is vital to future sustained manned bases. VMMO is a highly-capable, low-cost 12U Cubesat designed for operation in a lunar frozen orbit. It accomodates the LVMM Lunar Volatile and Mineralogy Mapper and the CLAIRE Compact LunAr Ionising Radiation Environment payloads. LVMM is a multi-wavelength Chemical Lidar using fiber lasers emitting at 532nm and 1560nm, with an optional 1064nm channel, for stand-off mapping of the lunar ice distribution using active laser illumination, with a focus on the permanently-shadowed craters in the lunar south pole. This combination of spectral channels can provide sensitive discrimination of water/ice in various regolith. The fiber-laser technology has heritage in the ongoing Fiber Sensor Demonstrator flying on ESA's Proba-2. LVMM can also be used in a low-power passive mode with an added 280nm UV channel to map the lunar mineralogy and ilmenite distribution during the lunar day using the reflected solar illumination. CLAIRE is designed to provide a highly miniaturized radiation environment and effect monitor. CLAIRE draws on heritage from the MuREM and RM payloads, flown on the UK’s TDS-1 spacecraft. The payload includes PIN-diode sensors to measure ionizing particle fluxes (protons and heavy-ions) and to record the resulting linear energy transfer (LET) energy-deposition spectra. It also includes solid-state RADFET dosimeters to measure accumulated ionizing dose, and dose-rate diode detectors, designed to respond to a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) or Solar Particle Event (SPE). CLAIRE also includes an electronic component test board, capable of measuring SEEs and TID effects in a selected set of candidate electronics, allowing direct correlations between effects and the real measured environment.