Appendix K : Outreach Activity

This appendix describes the techniques used for information gathering. Information about space qualified (or relevant) takes on significance due to scarcity and cost of such parts, and people who know of these. The following request was sent out to people involved in aerospace activities. The scope of people who received was restricted to people and organizations known to the community. The information was collected in formats listed after the outreach letter. The response to the outreach has been collated and cataloged.

______________________________________________________________________________

Request for information on space hardened components and systems

A team of students is designing a lunar rover to accomplish the proposed lunar mission of a 1000 km traverse and two year survival. As a part of this effort, we are reaching out to potential partners, associates and technology centers for information on existing space hardened components and sub-systems. Listed below is a set of components we are looking for. This is also a generic request for other space relevant components your organization knows of, uses or builds.

The available component set is severely restricted by the environment conditions of operation and survival. Since the current design has an enclosure for critical components, the environmental conditions are split into two categories:

List of identified, vital components ([I] => In-enclosure, [E] => Exposed, [U] => Exposed & unsealed):

We would like to establish contact and dialog with interested people and organizations. Current versions of project statement and design documents are available on request. Information received will be used in the current design and passed on to the design team which will take the design and prototyping process to conclusion. Requested information:

Nature of component information requested:

Address for sending or asking for information:

E-mail: lalit@ri.cmu.edu

Mail: Lunar Rover Technical Outreach

C/o Red Whittaker

Field Robotics Center,

Carnegie Mellon University,

Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890

FAX: (412) 682-1793

Phone: (412) 268-6556

(William Whittaker)

Director Field Robotics Center

(Lalitesh Katragadda)

Course Associate, Lunar Rover Design

______________________________________________________________________________

Looney Initial Call Sheet

Caller: Date:

Company & Location:

Person & Phone #:

Here are space qualified items we are interested in:

Motors, actuators, gear trains

Materials for structure: drive axles, wheels

Solar panels, batteries and power systems

High specific heat materials for night heating

insulating materials, radiators, louvres

High resolution CCD cameras, pan-tilt mechanisms for the same

Image compression chips and technology

Inertial navigation units, other navigation systems

Antennas (0.5 to 1.5 m light, dishes), transponders (Ka Band)

Pan-tilt mechanisms for antenna attitude control

Phased array antennae and pointing methods

Computing devices (chips, boards, connectors)

Sensors (proximity, contact, range...)

Can they direct us to experts?

Motor name,ph#,email:

Power name,ph#,email:

Camera name,ph#,email:

Navigation name,ph#,email:

Communications name,ph#,email:

Computing name,ph#,email:

Sensor name,ph#,email:

More notes:

____________________________________________________

Looney Specific Call Sheet

Caller: Date:

Company & Location:

Person & Phone #:

Product/System:

Mass: Dimensions: Power:

Space Qual. Particulars:

Radiation Hardness:

Operating Temp. Range: Survival Range:

Dust Sensitivity?

Operating lifetime (time & cycles):

M.T.B.F.:

Previous Space Use:

Cost: Lead Time:

Can they send us spec sheets, catalogs, data books? Send to:

Lunar Rover Technical Outreach

C/o Red Whittaker E-mail: lalit@ri.cmu.edu

Field Robotics Center,

Carnegie Mellon University, FAX: (412) 682-1793

Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890

Can they direct us to more experts?

Expert name & #

More notes (system specific specs & performance):


Last Modified: 04:41pm EST, March 07, 1997