![]() “The pieces and parts are coming together. “There’s work and awards aligned with basically every part of this,” Thornton said of LunaGrid, including wireless charging. The LunaGrid-Lite project won’t use VSAT systems but instead the solar arrays on the lander. “In a vacuum environment the DC-to-AC conversion doesn’t work with typical technologies used here on Earth, so that’s why we basically had to reinvent the wheel on how to do that.”Īstrobotic is separately developing other technologies needed for LunaGrid, such as Vertical Solar Array Technology (VSAT) that is optimized to produce power at the polar regions of the moon where the sun is always low on the horizon. ![]() “Even doing something and sounding as simple as DC-to-AC conversion is harder in space,” he said. “This will be the first small-scale demonstration of power transmission on the surface of the moon,” John Thornton, chief executive of Astrobotic, said in an interview of the effort, which the company calls LunaGrid-Lite.Ī big focus of LunaGrid-Lite will be to develop and demonstrate enabling technologies, such as cable deployment and high-voltage power transmission, which requires conversion between direct current and alternating current. The lander’s solar arrays will then transmit one kilowatt of power to the rover. ![]() The award covers the development of one of the company’s CubeRovers, the size of a six-unit cubesat, that will travel one kilometer from a lander, unspooling a cable. “These innovative partnerships will help advance capabilities that will enable sustainable exploration on the moon.”Īmong the winners is Astrobotic Technology, which received a $34.6 million Tipping Point award to develop technologies for its LunaGrid project to produce solar power and provide it to spacecraft on the lunar surface. “By creating new opportunities for streamlined awards, we hope to push crucial technologies over the finish line so they can be used in future missions,” Prasun Desai, acting associate administrator for space technology at NASA, said in a statement. The awards, with a combined value of $150 million, are designed to advance promising technologies to the point where they are ready for flight. NASA announced July 25 the selection of 11 awards through its Tipping Point program of space technology development. ![]() WASHINGTON - Companies working on nuclear and solar power systems for the moon are among the winners of NASA awards to advance their technologies for future use by NASA and commercial customers. ![]()
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