MOTIV SPACE SYSTEMS, INC. — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase II: S4

Description

Motiv Space Systems (Motiv) proposes a novel integrated, distributed actuation system which operates in extreme environments of the Moon and Mars.nbsp; The Distributed Extreme Environments Drive System (DEEDS) is a complete drive actuation system for use across a broad spectrum of use cases including ISRU systems, robotics, payload off-loading systems, and mobile vehicles on the Lunar and Martian surfaces.nbsp; A specific design reference case selected for this development is for a notional Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) traction drive system.nbsp; This use case covers a wide range of potential applications and should demonstrate the applicability of DEEDS to other applications allowing users to quickly determine an infusion path for their system.This work builds upon Motivrsquo;s successful Dual Axis Controller for Extreme Environments (DACEE) Phase 2 development which has spawned commercial products (Motivrsquo;s Bravo controller) and is in a Phase III activity demonstrating extreme environment manipulation activity for the Lunar surface, controlling all four joints on the Cold Operable Lunar Deployable Arm (COLDArm).nbsp; The original DACEE targeted an operational minimum temperature of -180ordm;C as a reasonable representative cold operating temperature in a number of extreme environments.nbsp;nbsp;The current State of the Art actuation systems utilize drive electronics and lubricants that must be kept warm to function and, in extreme environments, to survive.nbsp; The DEEDS system will require no external heaters for operation at -180deg;C through its use of DACEE controller technology and JPLrsquo;s commercialized Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG) planetary gear technology.nbsp; For wet-lubricated actuators of similar size to DEEDS, heaters can be in the range of 30W for a single actuator.nbsp; To operate in a permanently shadowed region of the Moon with the standard, wet-lubrication actuators would place a tremendous power burden on a lander or rover.nbsp; DEEDS eliminates this burden on the power system by eliminating heaters.