Successful test of probe for future planetary research

The first three test firings of small missile-like probes that will allow scientific measurements to be taken from the far side of the moon were successfully completed recently.

The probes, called penetrators, are being developed for the proposed United Kingdom-led MoonLite mission to the moon. They will be deployed at high speed by an orbiting spacecraft to embed instruments into the lunar surface on impact.

Then, the scientific instruments will send measurements back to Earth, revealing the internal structure of the moon. Penetrators could also be used for studying the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and other objects in our solar system.

The test penetrators travelled at about 1,120 km (700 miles) an hour along 300 metres of a 1,500-metre UK test track before hitting a sand target that had been constructed to replicate the surface of the moon.

Science laboratories

The impact generated a g-force of 10,000g - more than 1,000 times stronger than a human being could survive. The tests were carried out at Pendine in Wales using the long test-track facility that is operated and managed by QinetiQ, Europe’s biggest science and technology research organisation.

As part of a consortium led by the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, QinetiQ is de-risking the mission using computer models as well as trials at the test and evaluation facilities it operates at Pendine on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD). QinetiQ is also responsible for supplying the impact-resistant bodies for the penetrators, batteries and other electronic systems for MoonLite (short for Moon Lightweight Interior & Telecoms Experiment).

“The penetrator engineering concepts also come out of long-standing MOD research programmes on projectiles,” said Clive Richardson, QinetiQ’s Chief Operating Officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). By taking innovative capabilities initially developed for defence and translating them for MoonLite, QinetiQ is playing a key role on a ground-breaking mission that is set to reveal many secrets about unexplored areas of the moon.”

[UK has] the most competitive space industry in the world

Ian Godden

Chief Executive

Society of British Aerospace Companies

The three penetrators tested contained accelerometers, a data acquisition system, a power system and a variety of sensors including a drill mechanism, seismometer and mass spectrometer.

The accelerometers recorded data throughout the trial and initial examinations showed that all other sensors survived the impact.

Professor Alan Smith, director of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London, said: “These were our first trials and they have been enormously successful with all aspects of the electronics functioning correctly during and after the impact. To get everything right first time is really wonderful - a tribute to British technology and innovation.”

In an earlier statement, Ian Godden, Chief Executive of the Society of British Aerospace Companies, welcomed the MoonLite mission, saying that the UK had the most “competitive space industry in the world”.

If the development programme continues to make good progress, the MoonLite mission could be launched as early as 2013. MoonLite is part of a cooperative project between UK and United States scientists.

MoonLite

The working group brings together experts from the US National Aeronautics & Space Administration (Nasa) and the UK’s space authority, the British National Space Centre (BNSC).

The scientists believe that MoonLite could deliver important information about the moon’s structure, such as the size of the lunar core and the source of lunar seismic activity.

The proposed missions provide an opportunity to harness the UK’s world-class expertise in small satellite, communication and robotic technologies focused on exploration of the moon

Professor Keith Mason

Chairman

UK Space Board

The mission would also provide an opportunity to test the space communications network needed for future robotic or human explorers.

Professor Keith Mason, Chairman of the UK Space Board, the BNSC’s governing body, said the programme represents a milestone in its cooperation with Nasa.

“The proposed missions provide an opportunity to harness the UK’s world-class expertise in small satellite, communication and robotic technologies focused on exploration of the moon” said Mason.

MoonLite would be largely built by UK firms, with Nasa assisting and providing navigation equipment. The mission has been devised by a UK team including the Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) - an offshoot company of the University of Surrey, southern England - that has already sent about 30 satellites into space.

MoonLite would be able to reach areas of the moon not accessed by the Apollo launches of the 1960s and ‘70s.

Over the past 50 years the UK space industry has become a global leader in many sectors. Among other successes, it hosts the world’s most profitable global mobile communications provider and Europe’s most successful satellite-based TV broadcaster.

It is the world’s leading capital market for satellite and application financing.

Pointing out that the UK space sector contributes about seven billion pounds to the economy, Science & Innovation Minister Ian Pearson added: “The UK is already a major player in this great adventure. Space technology is a vital part of our everyday life, and satellite communications and space technology provide strong business opportunities for the future.”

He continued saying that “Applications from space underpin today’s major business sectors. They provide essential information to understand Earth’s environment, changing climate and weather and they enable great strides to be made in the scientific understanding of our solar system and beyond, and, provide innovative tools for enhancing our quality of life.”

QinetiQ is the UK’s largest independent science and technology and international defence/security company. It employs nearly 10,000 staff, including some of the UK’s leading scientists and internationally acclaimed experts.

Its wide-ranging research and development activities encompass fields as diverse as energy, telecommunications, automotive technology, rail technology, electrical and electronic technology, aerospace, health, oil and gas, information technology and defence.