CLLARE Lunar Lander
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The CLLARE Lunar Lander is a light and simple, open vehicle designed for descent from lunar orbit to the lunar service and ascent back to orbit. The lander is capable of carrying one astronaut in a chair at the top of the vehicle. Stairs are provided along one the top of one of the frame members and leg. The legs are stowed in an inverted position for launch and they unfold after reaching low Earth orbit. The leg rotator assembly is responsible for unfolding the legs. The legs are jettisoned during the ascent phase to save weight. The lander's minimalist design was inspired by several planned but never built landers like the Apollo Lunar Escape System ("LESS") and the Langley Light, Lighter and Lightest landers.
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[edit] Lander Construction
The lander is constructed of square extruded aluminum tubing (beams). The beams measure 4cm x 4cm with 5mm thick walls. The outer frame is a 2 meter by 2 meter square and the beams are welded together at the corners. The slant beams are welded to the outer frame at a 45ยบ angle and they meet at the apex of the frame where they are welded. The vertical beam (central beam) is 1.414 meters long and connects from the apex of the slant beams to the lower cross support beams. The lower cross support beams run from corner to corner and are each 2.828 meters long.
[edit] Vehicle Mass
The beams weigh 1.890 kg/m and the lander (minus legs) consists of approximately 23.1 meters of beams for a total mass of ~43.6kg. Each leg and leg rotator assembly weighs approximately 15kg. This makes the total structural weight approximately 103.6kg. This figure does not include the weight of the seat, steps, descent motor, fuel tanks, life support, and electronics. For comparison, the Apollo LM had a fueled mass of 14,696 kg.
[edit] Seat
The lander's seat is a lightweight frame that the astronaut sits on. The seat's attachment to the lander frame allows for several centimeters of shock absorption. The seat has two female seat belt fittings that mate with two male seat belt fittings that are integral to the space suit.
[edit] Stairs
The lander is equipped with stairs along one of the slant beams and lander legs. The stairs on the leg do not interfere with the operation of the leg deployment sequence.
[edit] Propulsion
The lander's engine and fuel tanks will most likely be derived from those of the CLLARE Orbital Bus, though this has not been firmly established at this time.
[edit] Navigation, Guidance and RCS
These systems will most likely be derived from the equivalent systems in the CLLARE Command Module, with the addition of radar or laser based sensors to measure distance from the surface, rate of decent and perhaps surface topography.
