The Splice technology, which maps terrain and diverts away from hazards, completed simulated lunar descents on a drone in the Mojave Desert as the agency works towards a permanent lunar base.
Nasa has successfully tested a navigation and guidance system intended to let spacecraft find safe landing sites on the Moon and other planets without human input. A drone fitted with the equipment carried out simulated lunar descent and landing manoeuvres in the Mojave Desert in California. The technology is designed to support precise touchdowns and to detect and avoid hazards, both considered critical to future missions. The US space agency is pressing ahead with ambitious plans for a permanent base on the lunar surface.
How the system works
The equipment generates high-resolution digital elevation maps from light-detection and sensor data, which it uses to map terrain and assess potential landing sites. If it judges that the targeted area is hazardous, it diverts the drone to a safer location.
Known as Safe and Precise Landing – Integrated Capabilities Evolution (Splice), the system was developed by researchers at Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas. They worked with specialists at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Centre in Edwards, California, to fit it to the Alta-X drone and carry out the test flights in August.
What the trials checked
The flights tested communications, data collection and handling, and command-and-control performance between the Splice payload and the drone. They were intended to prepare for a full-scale test later this month at Voyager Technologies, which is developing commercial lunar landers.
Davis Adams, Nasa’s project manager, said: “This flight test is the culmination of almost a decade of work for the Splice project. This flight raised the technology readiness level, priming it for integration into future robotic and crewed lunar flights.”
He added: “Validation of the guidance and navigation systems are applicable to terrestrial, lunar and Martian descent and landing missions.” Mr Adams said the agency was co-ordinating with industry on the use of the guidance system.
Wider lunar plans
Separately, Nasa recently announced plans with a specialist firm to develop a simplified, lighter space suit for moonwalks. The sortie suit is roughly half the weight of Axiom Space’s larger main suits, which will still be used for longer and more demanding future missions.
Nasa is aiming to land people back on the Moon in 2028, with a view to having a lunar outpost up and running by 2032. The outpost would provide a continual human presence, with routine crew rotations. The project aims to develop the technologies needed for future deep space missions, including to Mars.
