Intro

Landing

Our plan is to land the rover near the Apollo 11 landing site during the lunar morning. We have decided to land our rover here because that was where man first stepped on the Moon. By being the first privately funded spacecraft to land on the Moon we are making history. As quoted by Neil Armstrong, "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" meaning that our rover landing on the Moon is a huge significance for mankind. By landing during the lunar morning, we ensure that we have enough time, 14 days, to complete all of our tasks before the potentially life threatening lunar night. The terrain around this site is relatively smooth and level. The coordinates of this site are 0.67408° N latitude, 23.47297° E longitude, and it is inside an area called Mare Tranquillitatis, which means the Sea of Tranquility. Another reason this would be an ideal location is that we might find the remnants of the Apollo 11 mission, such as the flag, which will reward us with an additional 5 million for imaging man-made artifacts. [14]

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Entry, descent and landing are key in order for our rover to soft land on the Moon. In order to insure a soft and safe landing we will use the following:

Rockets: To slow down the rover as it approaches the Moon, we use rockets. They must slow the rover from going approximately 12,000 mph to a nearly complete halt. We use six solid propellant rockets, which are fired 1,000 miles above the moon's surface. As the rover nears the surface, a radar systems calculates the distance and decides how long the rockets must stay fired.[18]

Airbags: Once the rockets safely bring the rover about 15 meters from the surface of the Moon, the airbags are inflated. It is the soul job of the airbags to protect the fragile rover from craters, bumps, and rocks on the Moon's surface, and to cushion it's landing. The airbag is made of a synthetic material called Vectran. The rover has four airbags, each of which has six lobes. Instead of being directly connected to the rover, the airbags are attached using ropes. The ropes crisscross along the fabric, making inflation easier.[18]	airbags
Lander: The air bags are connected to a "shell" that acts as a house. This lander (or shell) is lightweight and has beams made from carbon-based layers of graphite fiber woven into a fabric. The fabric is lighter then aluminum, but still more rigid than steel. The Rover is held inside the lander with bolts and special nuts that are released after landing. The sides or "pedals" have hinges that have powerful motors that is strong enough to lift the entire lander. The motors insure that the rover will end up the right way. [18]	lander structure
Once the rover comes to a complete stop on the surface of the Moon, the airbags deflate and the rover gets pushed up right. Following that, the petals of the shell come off and the rover comes to life on the surface of the Moon. A small camera is attached to the shell of the lander. Once the rover is out of the shell and on the surface of the Moon, the camera unfolds automatically and records the rover's first movements on the Moon and sends them to the Earth using a small radio antenna allowing us to glimpse the revolutionary rover in real time as it roams into history.	lander structure