The Epic Saga of Trios: Unpacking the Power of Three Payloads

The clipboard of payloads on the Firefly Blue Ghost lunar lander encompasses three breakthroughs that were propelled by NASA’s Flight Opportunities initiative. Flight experiments utilizing sounding rockets, high-altitude balloons, and rocket-powered landers assisted research groups in enhancing the technologies’ preparedness and lowering the hazards for upcoming missions, such as this CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) journey. Continue reading for additional details regarding these space technologies and their advantages stemming from suborbital flight testing.

PlanetVac employs compressed gas to collect regolith from extraterrestrial surfaces, transferring samples from a lander’s footpads via pneumatic hoses into a collection receptacle. It only requires a few seconds to acquire the sample with virtually no energy consumption.  
 
During flight assessments on Xodiac — an Astrobotic vehicle designed for vertical takeoff and landing — PlanetVac successfully gathered over 220 grams of simulated regolith. Assessments demonstrated that PlanetVac could endure launch and landing while effectively capturing and delivering regolith samples, substantiating its viability for a lunar mission. 

Crafted to enhance computer dependability amidst high-energy radiation at a much lower expense than current options, RadPC (Radiation-Tolerant Computing) has effectively progressed from Flight Opportunities evaluation to orbital exhibition and the Blue Ghost initiative while pursuing ongoing commercialization.
 
Initiatives commenced aboard sounding rockets, among them a flight conducted by UP Aerospace, which aided in showcasing that RadPC could endure the conditions of a rocket launch. On Aerostar high-altitude balloons, RadPC operated for over 100 hours at altitudes exceeding 75,000 feet — beyond most of Earth’s atmosphere and consequently exposed to space radiation — facilitating researchers in verifying various subsystems.
 
These flying demonstrations were vital in preparing RadPC for two showcases on the International Space Station in 2022 and its subsequent selection for the Blue Ghost CLPS mission.

The GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) pertains to satellite networks managed by the U.S., including the Global Positioning System, or GPS, alongside the European Union and other nations. Throughout the Blue Ghost operation, LuGRE (Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment) will showcase GNSS-supported spacecraft guidance during transit to the Moon and while on the lunar landscape.

In a flight trial conducted on an UP Aerospace sounding rocket, the NASA-ASI group successfully illustrated the efficient utilization of a multi-constellation (GPS-Galileo) multi-frequency GNSS receiver aboard a launch vehicle. Scientists are analyzing flight data to conduct experimental assessments of the advantages of interoperability between GPS and Galileo constellations. The collaboration with Flight Opportunities provided invaluable data to facilitate ongoing investigations and enhancements of the technology.