Transcript Hopper Spacecraft Simulator

Hopper Spacecraft
Simulator
The “Hopping” Concept
-Land on a celestial body using engines, conduct
surface operations, then re-ignite engines and ‘hop’
to a new location on said body.
- Can hop multiple times until fuel runs out.
-Hopping can bypass dangerous/impassable terrain
very quickly and can traverse vast distances.
-First hop was accomplished by Surveyor 6 in 1967.
Traversed a distance of 10 feet.
-NASA has a lot of experience with rovers… and
landers… but not hoppers.
Surveyor 6
Example Mission:
Historical Lunar Landing Sties
-Land near one site and hop to
some other historical sites.
-Deploy small payloads at each
destination.
-Land at a refueling station
(assumed to be constructed) ,
refuel, and keep hopping.
Guidance, Navigation, and Control
(GNC) Problem
1) How will the hopper control itself to enable a stable flight?
2) How will the hopper know where it is and where it needs to go?
3) How will the hopper figure out the best (optimal) trajectory to get
it to its final destination?
Control
Motor
Gyroscope
Tilt Sensor
Hopper Spacecraft Simulator
(Constructed to test GNC algorithms)
40cm
Quick Facts:
70cm
-Total Mass: 13.7kg or 30lbs
-Total Thrust: 180N or 40lbs
-Powered by Lithium-polymer batteries
-17.4 Ah in batteries
-Thrust provided by 4 ducted fans
-Fans pivot in a single axis enabling
translational movement
Actual Hardware
Hardware Continued
Future Work
-Currently Re-working control board to gain computational speed and
efficiency
-Working on semi and fully-autonomous flight capabilities
-Simulator will be used to test future GNC algorithms Lehigh may develop
-A second-generation hopper with a larger thrust to weight ratio is currently in
the design phase.
Future Research:
Trajectory Optimization
Horizontal Trajectory
A
B
Ballistic Trajectory
(Bang-Bang)
A
B
Details and Acknowledgements
Lehigh Hopper YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLehighHopper#p/a/u/1/iPkFOJeE0FQ
Contact:
Professor Terry Hart
[email protected]
Andrew Abraham
[email protected]
Acknowledgements:
Jeff Diebold
Dan Frank
Kiki Schuck
Mike Mastrola
Matt Bilsky
Zack Rambo