Penn State students aim for the Moon
By Cameron Corrie
Landing a spacecraft on the Moon
is an audacious undertaking, one
that has only been accomplished
by three nations of the world, the
United States, Soviet Russia, and
most recently, China. However, in
December 2015, that will all change
as the Pennsylvania State University’s
Lunar Lion team will attempt to go
to the Moon and win the much
sought-after Google Lunar X Prize
and earn a place in history as the
spacecraft on the Moon.
The Lunar Lion team is relatively
new to the Google Lunar X Prize
intent to go to the Moon just this past
year. They join a group of 17 other
participating teams from around the
world, some of which have been
preparing since the inception of the
prize back in 2007.
Despite the late start,
the Lunar Lion team has
quickly risen to the
challenge, under the
leadership of Michael
Paul of Penn State’s
Applied
Research
Laboratory. Paul holds
the title of Director
of
Space
Systems
Initiatives. Prior to his work
at Penn State University in
2009, he held a position at Johns
Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
and was the Spacecraft Systems
Engineer for NASA’s MESSENGER
spacecraft that was sent to study
the planet Mercury. In addition, Paul
was active in the development of
the twin STEREO spacecraft currently
observing the Sun.
His
educational
background
includes an M.S. in Applied Physics
from Johns Hopkins and a B.S. in
Aerospace Engineering from the
University of Notre Dame. Paul leads
a multidisciplinary team of roughly
100 members, spanning almost every
imaginable major, from aerospace
engineering to theatre. There is a
role for anyone who is interested and
committed to the project.
20
20
The Lunar Lion
spacecraft
depicted
as it leaves
Earth’s orbit.
Simplicity is the main factor in Penn
State’s approach to winning the
Google Lunar X Prize.
While many other teams are
developing multiple vehicles such
as a rover and lander for exploring
the Moon, Penn State’s Lunar Lion is
the spacecraft, lander, and rover all
rolled into one convenient package
that will minimize points of failure and
reduce weight. To further cut costs,
they avoid the creation of new parts
and materials wherever possible.
Instead, they rely heavily on existing
surplus materials and designs that are
all tried and true - a technique
heavily employed by the
big players in space
exploration.
Fellow
competitors
are
designing
their
components from
the
ground
up
which is a major
hindrance in terms
of cost and reliability.
As of fall 2013, the
Penn State Lunar Lion
team has completed ‘Phase
0’, which is an entirely studentdeveloped process, that included
putting together its rocket testing
guidelines and procedures as well
as contingency and safety plans.
able to begin testing a rudimentary
liquid
rocket
engine,
using
atmospheric oxygen and methane
tests to validate their new testing
procedures.
With the completion of Phase 0,
the team has moved forward to the
using a ‘pencil-thruster’ fueled by
super cooled liquid oxygen (LOX) as
an oxidizer and liquid ethanol (like
what’s found in gasoline). Alongside
the thruster, the team developed a
functioning engine test stand fully
integrated with propellant delivery
systems and sensors. With the team
currently running tests on a regular
basis, students are analyzing the
effectiveness of these thrusters and
even making improvements to the
design in order to increase their
The pencil thruster was designed
and provided to the Lunar Lion team
by NASA through Penn State’s Space
Act Agreement. This agreement is a
formal means of NASA entering into
a partnership with an outside entity,
such as Pennsylvania State University
in order to further the missions of NASA
and the missions of their partners. The
agreement is a two way street, Penn
State will provide NASA with research
and development concepts from the
mission, and NASA will aid the team
by providing consultation with their
many scientists and engineers for the
duratio