CubeSat Lander for Asteroid Hopping via Gravitational Descent
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current in situ exploration of small asteroids and comets requires complex and expensive spacecraft and landers, making missions extremely difficult and costly, as seen in the Rosetta/Philae mission, with few alternative options available.
Innovation Solution
A miniature lander design utilizing a CubeSat platform for an uncontrolled descent and hopping landing on small asteroids or comets, which self-orientates to allow instruments to perform in situ analysis, eliminating the need for retropropulsion and associated navigation systems, thereby reducing complexity and cost.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional complex spacecraft and landers are used for in situ exploration of small asteroids and comets, then landing capability and instrument deployment are achieved, but mission cost and system complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The lander is divided into separate functional modules: a CubeSat bus providing basic platform functions, and a distinct instrument package. This modular segmentation allows independent optimization of each subsystem and simplifies overall system integration while maintaining landing capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The instrument package is extracted as a separate deployable module from the CubeSat bus. The instrument can be deployed independently after landing, allowing the bus to remain simple while the instrument provides the necessary scientific functionality without adding complexity to the landing system.
2Ease of operation
If retropropulsion and navigation systems are included in the lander design, then controlled landing is achieved, but system complexity and mission cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The lander exploits the harmful effect of high impact velocity during uncontrolled descent by using it to generate beneficial bouncing hops upon surface impact. The kinetic energy that would normally be destructive is converted into controlled hopping motion through elastic rebound, enabling passive navigation and orientation without requiring active retropropulsion systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The lander uses its own structural elasticity and momentum to perform navigation and orientation functions. The bouncing mechanism inherently provides both deceleration and positional adjustment, making external navigation systems and active retropropulsion unnecessary for basic landing operations.
3Weight of moving object
If a CubeSat platform is used for planetary surface exploration, then mission cost and mass are reduced, but landing control capability is diminished
Solution Approach 1:
The lander uses passive copying of natural bouncing behavior observed in simpler systems. By designing the lander structure to naturally rebound elastically from surface impacts, it replicates the effective landing mechanism of much simpler probe designs, achieving controlled descent without the mass penalty of active propulsion systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The lander changes the parameter of control from active thrust modulation to passive structural response. By adjusting structural stiffness, mass distribution, and center of gravity, the lander achieves controllable hopping behavior through passive mechanical means rather than active propulsion, maintaining CubeSat mass constraints while improving landing control.
4Productivity
If the instrument package occupies large volume of the lander, then in situ analysis capability is improved, but available space for supporting subsystems decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The CubeSat bus is designed with preliminary integrated functions that eliminate the need for separate supporting subsystems on the lander. Power, communication, and basic control functions are pre-configured in the bus, allowing the instrument package to occupy maximum volume without requiring additional space for duplicate subsystems.
Solution Approach 2:
The CubeSat bus is designed as a universal platform that performs multiple functions: structural support, power generation and distribution, communication, and navigation. This multi-functionality consolidates supporting subsystems into a compact bus structure, maximizing the volume available for the instrument package while ensuring all necessary support functions are provided.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables low-mass, low-power, and low-cost planetary missions to small asteroids or comets, drastically reducing the overall mission cost and complexity by leveraging the gravitational force and solar radiation pressure for landing, and using a CubeSat platform to facilitate self-orientation of the lander for effective surface analysis.
Implementation Method 1
a descending trajectory for the lander is designed based on gravitational force and solar radiation
Implementation Method 2
a descending trajectory for the lander is designed based on gravitational force and solar radiation
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus for designing, constructing and using instrument landers for in situ exploration of small solar system bodies, such as asteroids and comets. In one aspect, a lander includes a CubeSat-style platform; instrument packaging, wherein the CubeSat-style platform and the instrument packaging are configured and arranged for an uncontrolled descent, hopping landing on a surface of a body in a solar system, where a descending trajectory for the lander is designed based on gravitational force and solar radiation, with no lander-based propulsion; and a mobility mechanism configured and arranged to self-orient the lander on the surface of the body in the solar system.