Micro-Space continues to push development of the communications components needed for our GLXP Lander system AND ITS TEST PROTOTYPES!

Space “Pros” rightly criticize “New Space” enthusiasts for their assumption that the challenges of spaceflight will be overcome with UNTESTED PROTOTYPES. Those “Pros” are wrong in their assumption that the new entrepreneurs have not cut their teeth on other difficult projects, but their criticism is justified when we ignore what we have learned in that process. Neither software or hardware systems flow flawlessly from a simulation or block diagram. TEST and DEBUG are a very important part of all real world development, and any project which does not recognize this is naive and doomed to failure (or massive schedule and cost overruns).

Armadillo Aerospace efforts with a “Lunar Lander” can serve as a good example of a real lander development. The lack comparable competitive efforts makes it impossible to dismiss this as a poor example. Yet the Armadillo vehicle lacks a great many of the systems required for GLXP.

For spaceflight, unfortunately, the cost for operational testing in the intended environment is massively expensive and difficult. The “Standard” answer in the space industry has been to do very little development and to rely on hardware “Proven in Space”, in spite of its large size, mass and cost. Replacing this with untested prototypes will seldom work, and certainly will fail when a large number of critical systems are involved, as they are for the Google Lunar X PRIZE.

When “Standard Space Systems” can't be used, the only workable answer is to devise affordable operational tests for the new hardware in environments very close to space itself. We previously mentioned our intention to use “Suborbital” rocket flights to complete the development of our space systems. Such flights DO REACH SPACE. The high vacuum, zero G conditions are achieved, as well as the solar and galactic radiation environment. The stresses of launch are similar. The duration in the space environment is reduced, if this is a critical factor. But the only real difference between well instrumented suborbital and orbital tests is the COST of the flight – unless you are developing the launch vehicles and not payload or deep space systems.

At present Micro-Space is adding low noise amplifiers and weak signal processing to our lightweight communications systems. Achieving hundred thousand mile range with one ounce electronic systems is not mandatory for the GLXP, although it does allow a level of systems redundancy which will be welcome. It also makes possible small rocket and balloon tests, to the edge of space and beyond. And it is these we will use for much of our systems development. It has become obvious that funding for even $250,000 – let alone $8,000,000 – test flights will be hard to obtain. Realistically, a number of test flights will be necessary to develop confidence in the systems necessary for a successful Moon landing, and no GLXP team yet has the funding to conduct such tests unless they can be done at very low cost.

Thus we are preparing to exaggerate even our “Ultralight” concepts to begin testing our systems in space this year.