What's involved in CLLARE?
From CSTART Wiki
This page is a quick, light-hearted and non-technical overview to the wide range of engineering problems involved in the awe inspiring task of landing someone on the moon. It explains precisely which workgroups are responsible for doing what, helping new comers to the project figure out where they most would fit in.
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[edit] Figuring out a game plan
It's the task of the Mission Planning Workgroup to figure out the overall big picture. This means choosing a launch site and landing site on Earth, setting a date for the launch, and figuring out the particulars about the trip to the moon in enough detail that all the other workgroups know roughly what problems they need to be able to solve.
[edit] Building rockets
Space exploration isn't possible without rockets! We're going to need at least two: One great big multi-stage affair to get everything into orbit, and one or more smaller ones to use once in space to get out of Earth orbit, into lunar orbit, down to the moon, back up again and then back out of lunar orbit. Oh, and there are also smaller rockets on all the spacecraft to control orientation.
The Propulsion Workgroup is responsible for taking care of all of this. If you have experience in high power amateur rocketry and want to have some involvement in a rocket building project of truly epic proportions, check them out.
[edit] Building spacecraft
A spacecraft is basically just an air-tight container, that can keep an atmosphere inside with a near-total vacuum outside. With heat shields that can withstand temperatures of thousands of degrees experienced during atmospheric reentry. And radiation shielding that keeps people and electronics safe from high energy particles from the sun and cosmic rays. With its own electrical power plant that can't afford to fail. Oh, and it has to be aerodynamic, too. And strong enough to survive micrometeroids slamming into it at a few kilometers per second. Don't forget to make everything as light weight as possible!
If you know a thing or two about materials science, structural engineering, aerodynamics or power generation and distribution, and love challenging problems, the Spacecraft Engineering Workgroup might be the place for you.
[edit] Keeping someone alive
Space is an inhospitable place. Keeping astronauts alive involves providing atmospheric pressure and oxygen to breathe, removing toxic carbon dioxide, maintaining a comfortable temperature and humidity level. These same sorts of problems occur, to a lesser degree, in the design of airplanes, high altitude baloon gondolas, submarines and scuba diving equipment, so if you have experience in these areas, chances are you can help out! There's also eating and drinking in zero gravity and disposing of waste afterwards. The Life Support Workgroup has to worry about all of this and more.
[edit] Phoning home
There's a lot of information to send home during a trip to the moon. Voice and video data as well as telemetry data on the current state of all spacecraft systems needs to be sent over vast distances, at high speeds. Teams on the ground need to be able to send and receive everything without interference from any of many possible sources, and without relying on expensive, gigantic dish antennas. We're going to need multiple communication channels, error correcting codes and in the case of control signals crypotgraphic authentication, amongst other things.
All communications related aspects of CLLARE are handled by the Communications Workgroup. If you're an RF engineer or a radio ham, check it out!
[edit] Not getting lost
It's a long way from Earth to the moon (about 300,000 km!) and space is a hell of a place to get lost. Keeping track of the CLLARE command module during its trip is a difficult task, involving a variety of technologies: GPS during lift-off and landing, accelerometers and gyroscopes while in space, measuring round-trip times and Doppler shift of radio signals, and looking at the position and size of the Earth, moon, sun and the stars, to name a few! Then there's the scary math of combining all of these different sources of information on position, orientation, velocity and the uncertainties involved in each into a single, authoritative estimate.
The Navigation and Guidance Workgroup is responsible for keeping the CM on course during the 3 day trips to the moon and back to the Earth, and for keeping the lander on targer during its descent to the lunar surface.
[edit] Lots and lots of computing
One big difference between CLLARE and the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s is the size, speed and price of modern computers. CLLARE will use computers to control just about everything outlined above. A lot of calculations will need to happen in real-time or close to it and a lot of data will be generated that will need to be stored securely. Reliability will be absolutely key, and all of our hardware, operating systems and home-written software will need to be chosen to deliver it.
It's up to the Computer Systems Workgroup to make all of this happen.
