18.11.2024
Alexander Kaplan, a 2017 aerospace engineering graduate, is the senior mechanisms lead for Firefly Aerospace’s upcoming mission.
Alexander Kaplan. Photo courtesy of Firefly Aerospace.
A number of commercial missions are underway to deliver science and technology to the moon through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. These uncrewed missions will perform science experiments, test technologies, and help NASA explore the lunar surface, laying the groundwork for humans to have a lasting presence on the moon.
Excitement is building for Firefly Aerospace’s Ghost Riders in the Sky mission. The company’s Blue Ghost lunar lander will be sent to the moon in December as the primary payload on a SpaceX Falcon 9, delivering 10 scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface.
After 45 days in transit, Blue Ghost will land near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, a large basin in the northeast quadrant of the moon’s near side. This unique landing site will allow the team to gather critical data about the moon’s geophysical characteristics and regolith — a thick layer of fragmental and unconsolidated rock material that covers the entire lunar surface — as well as the interaction between solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field.
If the project is successful, Firefly Aerospace will be the first private company to land on the moon and operate for a complete lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 Earth days.
Virginia Tech alumnus Alexander Kaplan '17, is among 100 Firefly Aerospace employees on the Blue Ghost team working to make this mission a success. The team of scientists and engineers are paving the way for future missions to the moon by enabling regular lunar access and advancing lunar research, thus boosting human space exploration in the decades to come.
Kaplan earned his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Virginia Tech in 2017 and currently is the spacecraft mechanisms lead for the Ghost Riders mission. He talked about his experience and his role in the mission.
Alexander Kaplan inspects payloads and technologies on the Blue Ghost lunar lander at Firefly Aerospace’s manufacturing site. Photo courtesy of Firefly Aerospace.
Tell us about the work you are doing and how it relates to the Ghost Riders in the Sky mission.
I was the lead mechanisms engineer for Blue Ghost Mission One, meaning I was responsible for everything that moved independently of the rest of the lander. Firefly Aerospace has four different mechanisms on the first mission that support our payloads, including a retroreflector, an X-ray telescope that points back at the Earth's magnetosphere, a GPS payload that connects with Earth's GPS satellites, and a surface deployable arm that picks up lunar samples and deploys a payload that uses electrostatics to prevent dust build-up and clean radiators.
Firefly’s mechanisms on Blue Ghost also support our high gain antenna that allows us to capture 4K video and help improve our power efficiency. When you're going to the moon, you will be dealing with an extreme range of temperatures. On the hot lunar surface, we need radiators to keep our lander cool. However, during the cold transit, we lose a lot of heat from these radiators and would have to use heaters to stay warm, which requires a lot of power. We developed a passively controlled radiator cover system to conserve as much heat as possible when the lander is cold. As the lander warms up, it passively opens up these radiator covers to expose them, helping us cool off when we need it and save a lot more power without adding a lot of weight.
As humans return to the moon and look to explore beyond, what are you most excited to learn from the mission?
We will be supporting 10 different payloads from NASA on this mission, each with its own experiment. For instance, we have two different sampling systems: a drill on one side and then one that's on the surface arm. We also have cameras that are capturing the descent to watch the plume and see how the lander interacts with the ground as we land. Before we start sending people to the moon, we need to have tested all these technologies to be able to support humans on the lunar surface.
One super cool thing we’re doing with this mission is actually near the end of our time on the moon. With the way that the cameras are set up, we are going to get some really good shots of a lunar sunset. There is a charge buildup that naturally occurs, and the dust floats up. No one's actually stayed on the moon to watch a lunar sunset, so it should be super cool to get that footage.
What knowledge have you gained from being part of such an expansive, multidisciplinary endeavor?
The last four years I have definitely built up an appreciation for how proactive you need to be with crossdisciplinary communication. While I'm designing a system over here, I need to make sure that the team working on the electronics are aware of it and the software team knows what to expect. We want everyone to get to the finish line at the same time, so you need to be proactive about making sure that everyone is on target, even if it's not directly your subsystem.
How did Virginia Tech prepare you for your current role?
I spent a lot of time with different design teams. Working on the Astrobotics team was most directly applicable to working on a NASA space robotics mission. Getting exposure to a lot of different disciplines and also having that extensive design team support was a huge benefit, and sets Virginia Tech apart from other schools.
What do you think your younger self would think about your current work on the Blue Ghost lunar lander?
In a really roundabout way, I ended up getting to work on what my younger self dreamed of doing. When I was in elementary school, the Mars Rover missions were occurring and that is what got me really interested in robotics and in aerospace. I ended up going into aerospace engineering especially because there were a lot of different rocket companies coming into play while I was in high school.
It’s cool to send your work to one of the few places you can see from anywhere in the world. I can go outside and look up at the moon and actually see where we’re sending Blue Ghost [a small black dot on the top right side]. I think my younger self would be really, really happy with where I am right now.
Quelle: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University