Morpheus Prototype Uses Hazard Detection System to Land Safely in Night Test - Video

Image Credit: NASA/Mike Chambers

NASA demonstrated that it can land an unmanned spacecraft on a rugged planetary surface in the pitch dark in a May 28, 2014 free-flight test of the Morpheus prototype lander and Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT).

The 98-second test began at 10:02 p.m. EDT, with the Morpheus lander launching from the ground over a flame trench and ascending more than 800 feet (244 m) into the dark Florida sky at Kennedy Space Center using only ALHAT's Hazard Detection System for guidance.

The Hazard Detection System, assisted by three light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors, located obstacles -- such as rocks and craters -- and safely landed on the lunar-like hazard field a quarter mile away from the NASA Center.


Project Morpheus tests NASA’s ALHAT and an engine that runs on liquid oxygen and methane, which are green propellants.

These new capabilities could be used in future efforts to deliver cargo to planetary surfaces. The landing facility provides the lander with the kind of field necessary for realistic testing, complete with rocks, craters and hazards to avoid.

Morpheus’ ALHAT payload allows it to navigate to clear landing sites amidst rocks, craters and other hazards during its descent.

Project Morpheus is being managed under the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES), Division in NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.

The efforts in AES pioneer new approaches for rapidly developing prototype systems, demonstrating key capabilities and validating operational concepts for future human missions beyond Earth orbit.

NASA’s Joseph Acaba, Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin Land Safely In Kazakhstan

A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying U.S. astronaut Joseph Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin landed on the Kazakh steppe at 8:53 local time (0253 GMT) Monday.

U.S. astronaut Acaba and Russian cosmonauts Padalka and Revin rests after landing near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan Monday.

The Expedition 32 crew, which arrived at the International Space Station May 17, returned to Earth after a four-month (123 days) stay there.

During their stay on the ISS, the trio orbited Earth 2,000 times and traveled 52,906,428 miles, according to NASA.

Padalka, who has spent a total of 711 days during four flights and ranks fourth for the most days spent in space, piloted the craft back to Earth.

Nasa Astronaut Acaba

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide remain on the ISS. Williams took command of Expedition 33 after the Soyuz spacecraft separated from the space station.

The trio on the ISS would be joined by NASA's Kevin Ford and Russia's Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin in October.

The U.S. depends on Russia to send its astronauts to the ISS ever since NASA's shuttle program came to an end in July 2011. Russia charges NASA $60 million per astronaut.