The first free flight of the Project Morpheus prototype lander was conducted at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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NASA’s Morpheus Lander Returns To Flight At Kennedy Space Center

The first free flight of the Project Morpheus prototype lander was conducted at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
The first free flight of the Project Morpheus prototype lander was conducted at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Rebuilt and better than ever, NASA’s Morpheus prototype lander successfully flew its first free-flight test at Kennedy Space Center today. Stationed on custom-built launch pad, Morpheus ignited its environmentally-friends oxygen and methane powered engine at approximately 1:30 p.m. EST for a short test hop to check out its systems before the Morpheus Team undertakes more ambitious flights.

The lander is a test bed to demonstrate new green propellant propulsion systems and autonomous landing and hazard detection technology, which could enable new capabilities for future human exploration of the solar system.

Nearly six months of Morpheus tethered tests were accomplished at the Vertical Testbed Flight Complex near NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston before the lander was packed and shipped to Kennedy.

“All of the testing we accomplished at JSC was preparing us for the free-flight tests at Kennedy,” said Jon Olansen, the Morpheus project manager at Johnson.

Olansen said the Johnson tests helped the team understand how the vehicle performs and how to fine tune it. Testing also demonstrated the capability of a number of Morpheus’ backup systems.

Now, Morpheus is being tested at the north end of the Kennedy landing facility, where a realistic crater-filled planetary scape awaits. The 100-square-meter field, called the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) Hazard Field, contains rocks and other hidden hazards designed to mimic as closely as possible the landing conditions on surfaces such as the moon or Mars.

“During the first flight campaign, the team will conduct dry run operations to wring out any Kennedy-specific challenges to support Morpheus testing,” Gaddis said.

Morpheus’ first tether test took place last week at the launch pad constructed at the north end of the landing facility, just south of the hazard field. The tethered lander was raised 20 feet high to minimize risk to the vehicle while a checkout flight is conducted to ensure it performed as expected after being shipped across the country. The vehicle rose an additional 10 feet, translated across 10 feet, then returned to center to “land” at the bottom of the tether.

The Dec. 10 flight is the first of three planned autonomous free-flight tests. During the 54-second test, Morpheus lifted off from a recently constructed transportable pad containing a flame trench, rose to 15 meters where it hovered for a brief period before translating horizontally 7 meters and landing on a second pad.

“Over the next few months, we will continually expand Morpheus’ flight envelope with a goal of reaching over 800 feet in altitude and moving more than 1,500 feet downrange,” Olansen said.

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