Milestones for the GLXP visit
Behind-the-scenes of a mission to the Moon
As mentioned in our blog here, we are hosting the GLXP panel at our facility throughout this week.
A list of 10 milestones will be under focus for this week. Critical for showcasing our mission readiness, these milestones have been shortlisted based on the expected readiness from a mission that will be launched as per the updated GLXP timeline.
Milestone #1: Mission readiness of the spacecraft and the payload
This milestone covers the hardware readiness and qualification status for the mission. The data from relevant tests like The recently conducted vibration test of the spacecraft’s structure qualification model has helped us achieve readiness towards verification of milestone #1.
The test was highly successful and gave our spacecraft a green light for the mission.
It even goes some distance towards proving readiness for milestone #3.
Milestone #1 is further substantiated by the fact that the delivery of several off-the-shelf components has already begun.
Milestone #2: Readiness of Mission Operations and Control
Here we will be providing XPRIZE and the judging panel access to mission operations and data from the full chain simulations. More details coming up soon!
Milestone #3: Launch verification
The judges expect to witness the verification for launch. We will be showcasing our ability to meet launch deadlines and qualification for launch loads to build confidence for this milestone.
Milestone #4: Lunar arrival milestone
This requires spacecraft to acquire at least one stable lunar orbit.
The strength of our algorithms demonstrated during the mission simulations will help the judges review whether we would be able to satisfy the conditions for the Lunar arrival milestone prize during the actual mission.
For the mission rehearsal, we will be using a hardware-in-the-loop simulator for executing the commands sent by the operators. It will simulate the actual space environment which will test our readiness to communicate and control the spacecraft from the ground station and carry out this mission successfully. More details coming up soon!
Milestone #5: Soft landing milestone
By simulating lunar descent, we will showcase our ability to successfully conduct the spacecraft’s landing on the lunar surface. This will be simulated on the simulator.
Executing the descent strategy involves hazard avoidance, landing site selection, sound touchdown mechanism & contingency plan and other demos.
The drop test conducted by us in July will play a major role here.
Milestone #6: Arrival Mooncast
The rover will move from lander to the other end of the test bed. While traversing along this path, the rover will take pictures and videos which will be sent back to the lander. The panel will then assess whether we satisfy the technical requirements of the mooncast imagery like video duration and delivery quality.
Milestone #7: 500 meters mobility verification test
This test will confirm that the team’s 500 meters mobility plan complies with the mobility reference requirements
This will verify whether we can go the required distance on the lunar surface while maintaining contact with the spacecraft.
We had performed Open Air Range Testing for the communication link at a 500 m test site close to Hosur in September. This was a part of series of tests conducted by our team to characterize the communication link performance between the lander and rover.
Milestone #8: Mission Complete Mooncast
This will confirm that the team’s mission complete mooncast plan complies with the mooncast reference requirements stated in milestone #7 as well.
Milestone #9: Data Uplink
The key requirement here is to establish that a specific piece of data uploaded from our side is being received on the spacecraft and then sent back to earth. The on-ground verification of this will be validated by our data link architecture and bandwidth.
Milestone 10: Protection and Preservation of Lunar Heritage Sites
This is to ensure that the team is taking steps to protect against inadvertent landing or disturbance of heritage sites.
The tests and simulation for the week to come will be performed to provide data to ensure our mission checks all these requirements for the mission launch under the timeline.
Do let us know if you have any questions in the comments below. Our engineers will be happy to answer! #HarIndianKaMoonshot. Do stay tuned to the next blog in the series.
For us everyday is about taking the story of Har Indian Ka Moonshot to every Indian and this is our small step towards the same.
