The private space firm SpaceX isn’t the only one looking into vertical takeoff, vertical landing craft. NASA’s Morpheus project is an effort to create a lander that is capable of landing autonomously in rough terrain while also using a less hazardous fuel source. It also looks pretty cool coming in for a landing.
This video shows Morpheus’ 11th untethered test. It ascended over 800 feet into the air, scanned the nearby terrain with its sensors, and chose an appropriate landing zone a few hundred feet distant. It’s not an easy problem for a machine to solve all on its own. The sensor package in Morpheus is called ALHAT, short for Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology. The external sensor packages and computers required to avoid hazards weigh in at more than 400 pounds.
Morpheus is powered by rocket engines designed specially to burn methane and oxygen, rather than liquid oxygen, kerosene, and liquid hydrogen. Not only is the methane/oxygen mixture safer, it’s easier to come by out there. Researchers believe this type of propellant could be produced on the moon or even Mars. Methane can also be stored in space without worrying about it boiling off like liquid hydrogen does.
NASA hopes that Morpheus will lead to autonomous systems that can correctly choose a landing zone and hit it within 10 feet. Traditional craft can only get within 300 feet or so when given the coordinates because current systems can’t adjust on the fly to changing conditions. When you’re landing on terrain that isn’t extremely well-understood, that can be the difference between the safety of flat land and slipping into a chasm.
Morpheus itself is not intended to visit space, but it could serve as the basis for future landers that make the trip to other worlds. For now, there’s still more testing to be done before the ALHAT package ends up in a real vehicle.