Beating the boiling temperatures of the lunar day requires both good insulation to reject exterior radiation and an internal system to wick heat away from the electrically powered components that generate heat inside the robot.
March 31, 2010 - by Cooling strap for motor enters testing
March 28, 2010 - by Video update on the team's tech progress
The team is progressing on the new technologies to be incorporated in the third prototype, fabricating composite parts and putting components through deep-freeze tests, as shown in this new overview video.
March 26, 2010 - by Reporter Focuses on the Moon's #1 Technical Challenge
A reporter who visited CMU's Planetary Robotics Lab this week learned about the chief technical challenge of robotic lunar exploration: the heat. Roaming the Moon during the entire two-week daylight stretch is a tough job anywhere near the equator; solar radiation from above and heat radiating from the soil roasts a rover at 224 degrees Fahrenheit.
Her story gives good insight into how Astrobotic and CMU have attacked the thermal challenge:
March 18, 2010 - by Battery pack gets teeth
The two composite sides of the rover's battery pack will interlock, using teeth on the upper portion to latch into openings in the base. This will clamp the lithium ion cells from A123 into position to provide the 273 W-hr capacity the rover will use when it passes through shadow (during flight to the Moon or on the surface) or when it needs a supplement to the power from its solar panels. The composite battery pack parts created earlier were this week robotically shaped to create the interlock structure.
March 14, 2010 - by Expanded payload opportunities now available
Astrobotic Technology today announced that it has vastly increased the amount of payload that it can deliver to the Moon for researchers and marketers, as part of its maiden expedition in 2012 to win the Google Lunar X Prize. The company will be able to carry 240 pounds (109 kg) to the lunar surface for space agency technologists, academic researchers and marketers.
The company previously had offered only 12 pounds of payload to third parties.
March 13, 2010 - by Composite battery pack pulled from mold
The rover will operate with a 273 W-hr battery pack to provide peak power as well as power when the rover's solar array is oriented away from the Sun. The pack is comprised of A123 lithium ion cells, which will be attached to one of the interior I-beams anchoring the radiator to the chassis.
After designing and machining molds, the team laid up carbon composite materials over the molds this week to test production of the battery pack holder. In the photos, the cells are about the diameter of a U.S. quarter.
March 11, 2010 - by Rover prototype readied for photography session
The third prototype rover from the Astrobotic Technology team recently gained a mock camera and antenna head, making it nearly complete and ready for high-end photography. Yesterday it was posed in front of a green screen so that it can later be combined via Photoshop in combination with actual Apollo surface imagery and a rendering of the new design for the Astrobotic spacecraft / lander.
March 3, 2010 - by Parts to battle lunar heat take shape
The overriding technical challenge of operating a rover near the Moon's equator is the intense, prolonged heat produced by solar radiation and the hot regolith over which the rover travels. All powered equipment inside the robot generates its own heat as well, which must be routed to the radiator for release into space. In the photo below, the team has a key composite part sealed in vacuum to achieve better bonding of the layers. This part, the motor strap, connects the heat-generating 28v brushless motor to other high-conductivity composite straps leading up to the radiator.
March 1, 2010 - by Team adds mock head to prototype robot
The third prototype lunar robot developed by the Astrobotic team has been crowned by a mock camera/antenna head, completing its overall look. The unit was robotically machined to perfect the team's skills in creating the foam molds over which carbon fiber will be laid up to build the actual camera and antenna housings. The horizontal section will house two wide-field cameras with a telephoto zoom between them. The white top of this unit is a radiator to regulate internal temperatures. The dome will house an S-band "evolved" antenna.
February 28, 2010 - by Battery pack begins fabrication
The Astrobotic rover will carry a battery pack (273 Whr) to ensure power during the high-activity landing and also for the brief periods during roving when the solar panels won't be fully oriented toward the Sun. The team is fabricating a battery pack that straps the lithium ion cells to a main I-beam, which connects to the radiator to disperse heat.
This image shows the top piece of an aluminum mold for the battery pack over which a carbon-fiber structure will be built up.
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