Patent ID: 8353481
Filing Date: 2013-01-15
Classification: B33Y,B64G

Abstract:
1. A lander to land on a moon or other target solar system body, comprising: a spinning section adapted to spin about a spin axis at a first spin rate, such that the lander has a desired gyroscopic spin angular momentum; a despun section adapted to spin about the spin axis at a second spin rate; spin control means for independently controlling the spin rate of the spinning section and the spin rate of the despun section; attitude control means for sensing and controlling lander attitude; landing gear fixedly attached to the despun section, the landing gear having at least one leg that is a flexible, compliant leg for safely spanning from the despun section to the target solar system body and including a foot adapted to land on and drag along the target body, and that dampens a mechanical oscillation of the lander that occurs during a touch-down phase of the landing, wherein the at least one leg extends beyond the periphery of the spinning section; a propulsion system that includes one or more tangential thrusters to the spinning section to provide a spin-up and a spin-down control, at least one axial thruster and at least one radial thruster; a spinning section payload module mounted to the spinning section, and adapted to accommodate at least one payload; at least one auxiliary payload configured to use a pointing capability of the spinning section to point at least one auxiliary payload toward a selected azimuth direction; at least one auxiliary payload configured to use a pointing capability of the despun section to point at least one auxiliary payload toward a selected azimuth direction; a despun payload module mounted to the despun section, and adapted to accommodate the at least one payload; and a spinning descent radar having a radar beam tilted away from the axis of spin of the lander by a sufficient amount to provide velocity and range vectors derived from a modulation of Doppler frequency at the spin rate of the spinning section.