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Application of CubeSat Technologies for Research and Exploration on the Lunar Surface

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Abstract

In view of ESA’s horizon goal of establishing a human presence on the Moon by 2040, the Earth’s moon is increasingly coming into the focus of research and industry. Lunar exploration can benefit from systems developed for low-Earth orbit, as the environmental conditions are overlapping. The development of the CubeSat industry in recent decades has led to a revolution in access to near-Earth space. The goal of Neurospace and its partners is to explore the similarities of both environments for a direct application of existing CubeSat technologies for lunar exploration. Using an open standard and a tiered approach for the development of lunar rovers will allow future missions to focus more on the actual use case rather than the individual development, qualification, and certification of required components. This paper introduces the HiveR rover and provides a classification of the future importance of robotic systems for lunar exploration. It also discusses, in review of past lunar missions, how such rovers differ from previous lunar rovers, and how important they can be in supporting increasingly complex missions. The similarities and differences between the low-Earth orbit and the lunar surface are outlined. Based on this, the new challenges in adapting existing CubeSat technologies for robotics on the lunar surface will be discussed and initial solutions presented. As examples of potential payloads, various experiments are presented, such as a robot arm that was developed to fit in a 1 U volume. It can be used for docking operations between individual systems or various tool handling operations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the collaborators of the Chair of Space Technology, TU Berlin and the Institute of Space Systems, TU Braunschweig, especially Aditya Thakur and Heiko Wickboldt. The authors would also like to thank the entire Neurospace team, especially Karsten Pfeiffer, Nash Benton, Georgia von Grünberg, and Thia Steindorff for careful proofreading, many valuable suggestions, and many effective discussions. Furthermore, they express their gratitude to Johannes Rojahn for his support in the prototype development, Dr. Michael Schlüter for his support and expertise in the field of space electronics, Thomas Kern for his inspiring ideas, and the team of Celestial Space Technologies GmbH and PTS Spacelab Rostock.

Funding

This study was funded by NEUROSPACE GmbH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NEUROSPACE GmbH, Hohenzollerndamm 152, 14199, Berlin, Germany

    Maximilian von Unwerth, Lennart Fox, Max Manthey, Robert Mahoney, Igor Kolek & Irene Selvanathan

  2. Technische Universität Berlin, Chair of Space Technology, Marchstraße 12-14, 10587, Berlin, Germany

    Simon Stapperfend & Enrico Stoll

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  1. Maximilian von Unwerth
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Correspondence to Maximilian von Unwerth.

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Conflict of Interest

The following conflicts of interest are declared: Maximilian von Unwerth, Lennart Fox, Max Manthey, Roberth Mahoney, Igor Kolek, and Irene Selvanathan are employed by NEUROSPACE GmbH.

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von Unwerth, M., Fox, L., Manthey, M. et al. Application of CubeSat Technologies for Research and Exploration on the Lunar Surface. Adv. Astronaut. Sci. Technol. 6, 57–72 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42423-023-00144-w

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