We are very happy to share with the public the first details of the Spacecraft, which is being designed for the MOON RESEARCH PROGRAM – 1, which is included in the National Space Program prepared by the Turkish Space Agency (TUA), on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of TUA.
The Spacecraft, designed and developed by the TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute (TÜBİTAK UZAY), will have a structure consisting of two separate modules.
PLATFORM MODULE
This module contains various subsystems required for both firing required to reach the Moon and performing tasks such as navigation, imaging and scientific data collection to be performed after reaching the Moon.
These include spacecraft data handling, communications, power and orientation, and orbital control subsystems. With all these subsystems, the flight and command and control software of the vehicle are being developed by TÜBİTAK UZAY.
Within the scope of the vehicle’s navigation systems, there will be many sensor systems on the vehicle surfaces. Of these, the star tracker will take pictures of the stars and compare them with the map in their memory to determine which direction the vehicle is facing (orientation).
With the High Resolution Camera, images with a resolution of better than 1 m will be obtained from an area of 5 km wide.
With the Wide Angle Video Camera, various videos will be taken during the operations within the scope of the transfer to the Moon, the lunar orbit and the landing stages.
PROpulsion MODULE
While the hybrid propulsion system will gain history by using it in orbital elevation mission, orbital and orientation acquisition firings will be carried out with the dual-fuel chemical propulsion system.
FIXED SOLAR PANELS OF THE VEHICLE TUBITAK MAM PRODUCTION
During operations in lunar orbit, the +Z direction will constantly face the Moon surface, and the X direction (+ or – X direction) will face the flight (velocity vector) direction.
Fixed solar panels to be produced by the TÜBİTAK MAM Materials Institute will be located on both +X and -X surfaces of the vehicle. Thus, one of these panels will be able to produce continuous power.
After gaining operational experience with the AYAP-1 mission, completely fixed solar panels will be used on the AYAP-2 landing craft.
S-BAND and X-BAND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS OF THE VEHICLE WILL BE PRODUCED BY TUBITAK UZAY
The spacecraft will have a communication system that will be developed by TÜBİTAK UZAY and operate in 2 different frequency bands, S and X bands.
With S-Band, telecommand and telemetry (spacecraft health and status information) communication will be carried out. In addition, distance measurements to be used for trajectory determination will also be made through this communication system.
Since the beam (viewing angle) of the S-Band antennas to be developed by TÜBİTAK UZAY is wide, there is no need for orientation to see the ground stations in the world. For this reason, communication will be provided through this system in case of emergency.
With the directional X-Band antenna, high-volume data (such as images and video) will be transmitted to the ground, while long-range measurements can be taken over this system.
Source TUA
