ROBEX – ALUNIR Architecture Study

Abstract

This report presents the work and the results of the ALUNIR (A large LUNar mission for ROBEX) architecture study performed from 23th to 27th June 2014 in the Concurrent Engineering Facility (CEF) of DLR Bremen. The goal of this study was to define payload to be transported from the Earth to the Moon. Indeed in the frame of the ROBEX project funded by the Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft, a modular transportation system to the Moon should be designed. To initiate this work a preliminary design of three robotic missions has been performed. The chosen missions include the deployment of a LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) on the far side of the Moon, the establishment of a lunar base with its habitat modules and power-plant in the Mare region and the deployment of an ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilization) plant close to the lunar base. The main interests during this study were to determine the mass and volumes of the different subsystems. A detailed analysis of scientific and technological aspects of the subsystems was not the matter of this study. Results are mainly based on the adaptation or the up-scaling of former studies. For the three aforementioned missions, the mass and sizes of the main components which should be transported to the Moon is given and will be used as input for the further work on the design of the transportation system.