Nexus Aurora

🚀 Excited to share our latest updates of the research on economical lunar sample return missions using Soil Penetration Darts! 🌕 SPDs offer a cost-effective and sustainable way to collect deep soil samples from the Moon. Want to learn more? - Catch Eden Buch Kornreich presenting our work at the International Astronautical Congress TODAY at 2:10 PM (IP Screen 10)! - Visit our website: https://lnkd.in/gRTMDQmh Nexus Aurora Oshadha Pathirana, Harshith Aluvihare, Eden Buch Kornreich #IAC2024 #lunarexploration #spaceexploration #samplereturn

We have given five presentations! 💫 We have two more to go - 17.10.2024 - SPD, Soil Penetration Dart (IP area, screen #10) 18.10.2024 - Staikholders Framework (IP area, screen #41) See you there!

New interview with Eden Buch Kornreich He will present #SPD project on IAC2024 _____________________ AD: Tell us about yourself, what do you do, how did you join Nexus Aurora? EB: I’m an engineering student at the Catholic University of Louvain and I’m finishing my bachelor's degree. I joined Nexus Aurora in July 2020 during the pandemic because I was really bored and I felt I needed to do something that mattered to me. _____________________ AD: You are working with Viduranga on the SPD project. What is your role and what are you working on? EB: I am going to be presenting this year so my primary role is to understand everything related to the SPD to the best of my ability so I can answer any question that may arise. I am also working on the economic and sustainability analysis, to make sure that what we are proposing is not economically unviable _____________________ VL: What makes the SPD a cost effective solution for sample return missions from the Moon? EB: It's definitely an economy of scale, everyone would chose a rover with a drill over one SPD, but the beauty of the solution we’re proposing is that you can build hundreds or thousands of SPDs for the price of that rover, which means that you can sample zones a lot more efficiently, or far less tightly than with a rover for the same price. Then there is also the idea of redundancy; A rover usually has 2 to 3 backups for each primary systems, while each SPD acts in itself as a backup for every other SPD, making the mission very resilient to breakdowns and thus more cost effective. ______________________ VL: The concept of a high-velocity impactor might not immediately seem aligned with sustainable space practices. How do you see SPD contributing to a more sustainable approach to space exploration? EB: With space exploration, it's always a question of weighing how much we value the data gathered by the experiment against the harm to the environment being studied. With SPD, we can do a lot of sampling while having a relatively little impact on the lunar environment. We can also take a lot of steps to further mitigate it like strict sterilization, minimizing the number of debris created by the impact by making good fabrication choices, and not sending any unnecessary missions.

Cameron R. – core member and financial officer for NA. he is also MDRS project leader. He will also be speaking at the IAC2024 with an paper "Designing a mobile robotic system for low-cost, high-accuracy planetary science" ________________________________ AD: Cameron, could you share how you became involved with Nexus Aurora and the role you currently hold within the organization? CR: I joined Nexus Aurora in 2020 to help create our entry for the Mars Society’s Mars City State Competition. Specifically, I worked on transportation network design and deployment concepts like rovers, roads, and rail logistics networks. After we won the competition, I stayed on to continue working on one of the proposed robotics projects, an autonomous exploration rover, to deploy at the Mars Society’s Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS). Currently I’m working with a team on our second iteration of the rover as well as serving as a Core member and financial officer for NA. I also support some new exciting projects as a member as well. ________________________________ AD: You are leading the SSAM project at Nexus Aurora. Could you provide an overview of this project? CR: SSAM is a great project because it revolves around leveraging consumer grade off-the-shelf technology to provide an extremely low cost, rapidly producible plug-and-play solution for terrestrial analog testing in extreme environments. This means that anybody with a rover payload they want to send to space can test in extreme environments on earth cheaply and effectively with an easy-to-use solution. We’ve partnered with the Mars Society and other organizations to establish various testing locations and are looking to open source interface documentation soon. Ultimately, we hope a future variant of the rover could actually be a candidate for a Lunar mission. ________________________________ AD: What is the current stage of development for the project? What specific aspects are you focusing on right now? CR: Right now we’re in the building phase for our second iteration, called Block B. We’ve completed the majority of the design and passed reviews for the chassis, suspension, electrical, and payload system, and are working on preliminary testing of our autonomous software architecture while we wait for parts to arrive. Our team is spread across a few countries and we want to stretch our budget as far as possible so this phase can feel a bit slow at times, but it’s definitely the most exciting part seeing hardware come together!

SPD project 🚀 Could planetary penetrators offer a cost-effective solution for bringing samples back from the Moon and beyond? Our Soil Penetration Darts (SPD) project is exploring this exciting possibility! We've been researching a penetrator-based sample return mission concept since 2021. Catch a glimpse of our progress in our IAC 2022 Paris presentation: https://lnkd.in/eV9z2gbP ⏱️ Short on time? Watch our 3-minute video summary: https://lnkd.in/epjDT9hh Big News: SPD is Going Solo! SPD is no longer reliant on a rover or lander. We're developing it into an independent module that handles everything from lunar orbit to surface, sample collection, and return to orbit. We'll unveil all the details at IAC 2024 Milan. Stay tuned for more updates! Want to delve deeper? Read our full IAC 2022 paper: https://lnkd.in/ecGK8TB9 Contact our project leads for further information. #PlanetaryScience #SampleReturn #SpaceExploration #Innovation

New interview with Viduranga Landers - project lead in Nexus Aurora. The project SPD that Viduranda and the team are working on will also be presented at the IAC2024 AD: Could you tell us a little about yourself and your activities? VL: I'm a computer science undergraduate with a deep passion for space technologies. Currently, I'm part of the Nexus Aurora team, leading the Soil Penetration Darts (SPD) project. I'm also collaborating with a local team on a novel Self Adapting Wheel System (SAWS) for rovers, which recently received a patent. It’s actually part of the NA SSAM project, and it was my first involvement with Nexus Aurora. Beyond that, I'm involved in a few technical projects, including Sri Lanka's first analog Mars rover, Taprobane, and I'm pursuing research in both space exploration and quantum computing. _____________ AD: You are the head of the SPD project at Nexus Aurora. Could you briefly describe the essence of the project? VL: The SPD project is focused on developing an innovative method for lunar sample return missions. We’re designing specialized impactors, called SPDs, that can penetrate the lunar surface at high velocities, collect both surface and subsurface samples, and then return those samples to lunar orbit for retrieval. Our goal is to make lunar sample return missions more cost-effective and efficient compared to traditional methods. ______________ AD: This project will be presented at the IAC 2024. Could you describe the main goals that you are analyzing in the new article? VL: We initially presented a version of this concept at IAC 2022, which relied on either a rover or a lander for sample retrieval. However, we've since made significant progress and developed a design where the SPDs handle everything from sample collection to return to lunar orbit, streamlining the process. In our IAC 2024 presentation, we are focusing on the advancements we’ve made since the initial concept and we’ll delve deeper into validating the technical feasibility and potential impact of the SPD concept. ___________ AD: How do you see the further development of the project after the speech at the IAC? VL: The IAC presentation is a vital opportunity to showcase the potential of the SPD concept to the global space community. We hope it will generate further interest and collaboration, potentially leading to additional funding and resources to propel the project forward. Ideally, the next steps involve prototyping and testing key components of the system. We'll also continue refining the design and mission architecture based on the feedback and insights we receive. Ultimately, our vision is to see SPD technology integrated into future lunar missions, enabling more efficient and cost-effective exploration of the Moon and other planets.

In continuation of the interview about the UBM project, we wanted to share with you a link to the 3D model. Follow the link to view the model in more detail and get acquainted with the details https://lnkd.in/e5mHR8ei Project leader - Szymek Matkowski

Today we are introducing our next community member - Szymek Matkowski . He is Chief Operating Officer in NA, project leader (UBM, EVAC), and speaker on IAC2024 Universal Berthing Mechanism (UBM): AD: What sets the Universal Berthing Mechanism apart as a universal standard? SM: The UBM stands out because of its adaptable, androgynous design, making it compatible with various orbital modules. It’s built to support large space stations in LEO and beyond while streamlining operations and cutting costs—truly making it a universal standard. ___________ AD: What was the toughest part of designing the UBM? SM: The biggest challenge was ensuring the UBM's mechanical and thermal stability over long periods in space. We had to design it to handle large modules and high loads while minimizing the need for crew involvement and eliminating the need for EVA during docking. ___________ AD: How does standardizing the UBM improve operational efficiency and scalability in the space industry? SM: Standardizing the UBM simplifies the process of linking modules, reducing both time and complexity. This makes operations safer and more efficient. As more organizations adopt the UBM, costs will drop, paving the way for larger, more complex space stations. ____________ AD: How does the UBM fit into Nexus Aurora’s Orbital Can Station, and what broader role could it play? SM: The UBM is central to Nexus Aurora’s Orbital Can Station, acting as the main connection mechanism between modules. Its flexibility makes it ideal for various configurations, whether crewed or uncrewed. While it’s key to the Orbital Can Station, the UBM’s versatility means it can be used in many different types of space stations, supporting future missions beyond LEO, including those to the Moon and Mars. ______________ AD: Can the UBM be used in artificial gravity stations or planetary bases? SM: Absolutely. The UBM’s strong design and large passageway make it well-suited for artificial gravity stations and planetary bases. It’s built to handle heavy loads and provide reliable connections, making it ideal for long-term habitats. The continuation of the interview with another project will be very soon 🔜

We are starting a new column "Interviews with community members" And our first member is Olivier Rinfret 💫 AD: Olivier, how did you come up with the idea to take part in the competition, as well as how did you join Nexus Aurora and what role do you currently occupy? OR: I joined Nexus Aurora in May 2020. At the time, I was doing my Master's thesis on the context surrounding the decision to go from the US to Canada irregularly. But as you might know, the pandemic made traveling between two countries pretty much impossible. So I had to cancel most of my research activities on the field and find a new way to gather data. I was quite depressed at the time and as an urban planner, I always dreamt of contributing to the designing of a city on Mars. I was actively looking for a way to enter the competition and I found NA on Reddit and decided to join them. Being in NA really helped build my confidence back in myself throughout my thesis and complete it in early 2022. So Nexus Aurora was a community at first, a group only made to compete in the Mars Society's Mars City State Design Contest of 2020. It was founded by SpaceInstructor who left in early 2021. About 20 people and I involved in the contest decided to keep NA alive after it was over and use the winnings to start an organization and fund our own projects. At this time I helped a lot in organizing the community by designing processes of collective decision-making (such as the general voting procedures) and its governance structure. You could say that SpaceInstructor gathered everyone at the same place and I was the architect of Nexus Aurora as an organization. I don't recall why he called it Nexus Aurora, but when he left I remember we liked the name because it would symbolize all the diversity of people that we have as an international community. ———————— AD: What projects are you currently working on? OR: Currently, I'm working on publicly launching the Space Race platform. We believe there is very little information out there about what is going on in the space industry unless you are really in it. So it's a web platform with tools to study the evolution of the modern space race and we hope to attract all kinds of people with it and interest them in space. ———————— AD: How do you see the Nexus in a couple of years? OR: In a couple years, I see Nexus Aurora as a credible partner to institutions to develop educational tools and help young dreamers kickstart their own space projects.

We are delighted to be sponsored by SpaceABC for our September 14-15 conference at EPFL in collaboration with eSpace - EPFL Space Center and partnership with Space Generation advisoryy council. You can get a 10% discount on SpaceABC products using the code CHASM10 when purchasing tickets under https://lnkd.in/eT94UKmh. SpaceABC specialises in nutrition, health and well-being for analogue astronauts and astronauts.