Green Propulsion Demonstrator “The LÄNDer”

Kurzfassung

For future manned and unmanned space missions, landing systems are required, which are able to initiate and carry out soft autonomous landings on extraterrestrial celestial bodies. Development of rapid and robust guidance and control (GNC) systems as well as efficient, controllable and safe thrusters meeting a high level of autonomy and safety is crucial for successful lander missions. To meet those requirements, both component level view such as physico-chemical behavior of the propellants and the transients of the propulsion system itself as well as the system level view of the behavior of the holistic system are of utmost interest. To enable extensive testing and demonstration of new GNC methods and rocket engines, DLR Lampoldshausen has extended its research fields to develop a modular lander platform and a test bench with variable degrees of freedom. The aim is to combine extensive testing of GNC algorithms with sustainable propellant technology.