Projects

Study and Simulation of Landing Dynamics of a Lunar Soft Lander

The rough terrain of the moon surfaces are well known to present daunting challenges for any space module to land safely with stability. The project aims to address some part of this issue through study and simulation of the landing dynamics of a lunar soft landing gear module. The project proposes to simulate various landing conditions of lunar module and use the results to study the stability of the design. With these results, the proposal is to develop a soft landing module that will meet the stability criteria.

The first few seconds before and after touchdown are critical. In this phase the landing gear system should aid to decrease the magnitude of deceleration (shock) of landing and damping mechanism to reduce transmission of shock vibration.

The project proposes to select an optimum honeycomb shock absorber and a suitable configuration for the Lander. These results will be helpful in the development of a soft landing gear module for future moon exploration missions of ISRO.

Stability Test

The maximum slope of the surface on which the lander can land safely is found out to be 21⁰. The maximum slope of the landing is given as <18⁰. Adams simulation also proves the stable angle is upto 21⁰.

Adams Simulation