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Robotic ISRU Construction of Planetary Landing and Launch Pad

Award Information
Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Branch: N/A
Contract: NNX16CK09P
Agency Tracking Number: 150263
Amount: $124,877.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: STTR
Solicitation Topic Code: T4.02
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2016
Award Year: 2016
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2016-06-10
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2017-06-09
Small Business Information
Building 3, Suite 1005 63 Flushing Avenue Unit 150
Brooklyn, NY 11205-1070
United States
DUNS: 000000000
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Paul Susante
 Senior Lecturer, Mechanical En
 (906) 487-3253
 pjvansus@mtu.edu
Business Contact
 Kris Zacny
Title: Business Official
Phone: (510) 207-4555
Email: zacny@honeybeerobotics.com
Research Institution
 Michigan Technological University
 Marilyn Haapapuro
 
1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton, MI 49931-1200
United States

 (906) 487-2228
 Domestic Nonprofit Research Organization
Abstract

The Apollo 15 Lunar Module rocket plume excavated regolith which sandblasted at speeds in excess of 1000 m/s the Surveyor 2 lander 200 m away. A Curiosity rover instrument was permanently damaged during SkyCrane landing on Mars. Any future human surface missions to planetary bodies covered in regolith (e.g. Mars, Moon) would need to address ejecta created during landing or takeoff.

The intent of this project is to develop a fully robotic system for building landing pads on planetary bodies. The system will excavate in-situ regolith, sort rocks according to needed particle sizes, and layout a carefully designed landing/launch pad apron to lock in the small regolith particles.

To that extent, Honeybee/MTU propose to design and build a robotic tool to perform the following 3 actions: Pick up or excavate rocks, sort the rocks in three size ranges, and deposit said rocks in three layers with the purpose to stabilize the fine regolith in the secondary apron zone of Lunar and Martian landing pads for repeated landings and take-offs.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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