Scalable Gravity Offload System, Phase I

Initially, Astrobotic will put this technology to commercial use in its own development program for private-sector lunar robots that gather data, perform services and emplace payloads for government and commercial customers. This early demonstration on the moon the first mission is scheduled for May 2011 will generate data to show how closely actual lunar mobility performance matches the results of simulated lunar gravity tests conducted on Earth. Validation with near-term lunar activity is a key step that enables others to confidently adopt the gravity off-load technology in their own test programs. Mobility systems tuned to lunar or Martian gravity are a fundamental need of all government and commercial endeavors on these bodies, both crewed and robotic. The scalable gravity off-load system will enable NASA-funded mobility research to test approaches under the reduced gravity that mobility systems they will experience during missions. Because it is inherently portable, this technology approach can be added to existing NASA infrastructure such as vacuum chambers and regolith stimulant test beds or transported to field locations. More »