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Zaida Y. Hernandez

Publications and source records attributed to Zaida Y. Hernandez.

3 records
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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Designing A Lunar Terrain Vehicle: Thermal Challenges

The Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) is an unpressurized rover that will be used to transport astronauts on the South Pole of the moon under the Artemis Program. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will be partnering with an American industry partner to develop the LTV. This paper discusses the thermal challenges faced when designing a crewed lunar vehicle concept and shares a concept that addresses these constraints. One of the most difficult aspects of the design is surviving the cold lunar night on the South Pole which includes permanently shadowed regions (PSR) that can have an extended lunar night duration of 125 hours. Other challenges are critical component temperature limits and programmatic constraints.

Zaida Y. Hernandez↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Surviving Night at the Lunar South Pole: Exploring Viability of Radioisotope Power Systems for a Crewed Rover

Spacecraft thermal environments tend to be extreme, and the lunar surface is no exception. Future lunar missions aim to explore the lunar south pole region, focusing on permanently shadowed region (PSRs) that may act as cold traps for volatile elements such as hydrogen. By careful selection of landing sites, the longest continuous period devoid of insolation near these PSRs can be reduced significantly from the maximum of 354 hours. Future NASA missions aim to allow exploration of PSRs with a crewed lunar rover. Program architectures may impose a requirement that the vehicle be able to survive repeated lunar nights. Surface temperatures at southern latitudes can be lower than 100K during night, causing significant energy demands heating components above keep-alive temperatures. This adversely affects lunar programs which are heavily mass-constrained. A technical exploration of various radioisotope power systems and their viability, benefits, and drawbacks was completed. An analysis was also performed examining potential vehicular mass reduction and increased lunar night survivability due to the inclusion of radioisotope power sources. The results of this analysis were compared to a baseline non-nuclear vehicle utilizing only batteries and solar arrays for energy storage.

radioisotope↗