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47 has been designed with a solar array measuring roughly 30 x 30 cm for generating DC power, and a 2.45 GHz microwave to transmit the energy. Rather than beaming the energy down to a power station, it would be beamed into instrumentation to test the efficiency of the experimental set-up. The aim is to measure the losses between the solar energy collected and the DC power received at the end-point, informing future designs of satellites for microwave power. While the X-37B has also been slated to deploy a satellite – designated FalconSat-8, which will serve as platform for other experimental modules – the PRAM-FX is integrated into the spaceplane, to make use of its comms links as well as its range of attitudes it can take relative to the sun to produce more comprehensive test results. With the X-37B having been awarded the Robert J Collier trophy as “the world’s only autonomous, reusable spaceplane” (so far), China, India and Russia are now also reportedly pursuing their own designs for such vehicles. Autonomous spaceplane designs can be expected to proliferate, having been firmly established as a highly viable solution for low-cost, repeatable orbital operations. The Moon In one of the latest developments for NASA’s Viper (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project, which is centred on delivering its latest lunar UGV to the Moon’s south pole, US-based Astrobotics has been awarded a $199.5 million contract to deliver the Viper to its landing site. The contract includes supplying its Griffin lunar lander system as a delivery platform for the Viper. The Griffin will use a combination of sensors including Lidar, an onboard IMU and terrain-relative navigation (which compares real-time terrain measurements with known measurements) to plot and adjust its descent. It will use seven main engines and four clusters of attitude control thrusters to land safely on the lunar surface. After deploying the Viper, the Griffin will continue generating power using triple-junction solar modules installed around its hull, with that power going towards maintaining wide/local area network data links between the rover and mission control. The Viper measures around 2 x 1.4 x 1.4 m and has solar modules installed on three of its sides. It will carry payloads to search for volatiles such as hydrogen and helium in the lunar surface, excavate and analyse samples, and evaluate the case for extracting and using any resources on a larger scale. For prospecting, it will carry a neutron spectrometer, a NIR spectrometer, a thermal radiometer and a mass spectrometer. A 1 m drill is installed in the centre of the rover for taking 10 cm samples from the ground, and there is a mast on the front for mounting an imaging camera and an antenna. Also with an eye on the Moon’s hydrogen stores is Japan-based iSpace, the spin-out formed following the success of Team Hakuto’s lunar rover (the Sorato UGV). The company has partnered with Takasago Thermal Engineering to send an experimental payload developed by Takasago to the Moon in 2023. The payload will conduct the first lunar water-electrolysis experiments, using Takasago’s proprietary technology to investigate the feasibility of iSpace’s ambition to develop long-term infrastructure for extracting water and hydrogen gas from the Moon’s surface. The 2023 mission is to be the second iSpace launch, planned as part of its Hakuto-R lunar exploration programme. The first mission is due to launch in 2022; the final design of the lunar lander for that operation was announced in July this year. The 2.3 m-tall, 2.6-m wide lunar lander will weigh 340 kg empty, with a 30 kg payload capacity. In the 2023 mission, that capacity will be used to deploy one of the company’s rovers for exploring the lunar surface and collecting data. Future missions will be aimed at deploying Space vehicles | Insight Unmanned Systems Technology | October/November 2020 The payload in iSpace’s Sorato rover will conduct the first lunar water-electrolysis experiments (Courtesy of iSpace)