Project
Lunar Lander Leg Thermal Measurement Test
A Purdue and Exos Aerospace test campaign — integrating and testing the Pitot-rake data acquisition system, and completing all data collection within a tight test window.
A test campaign run by Purdue University together with Exos Aerospace. The question we were investigating: can a single rocket engine be used to simulate the flow field when a lander’s engine plume hits the ground on touchdown, and provide data for assessing the thermal environment around a lunar lander leg?
How we measured
- Temperature: temperature-sensitive paint on the test articles, alongside temperature sensors. The paint shows the temperature distribution at a glance; the sensors give precise readings
- Pressure: Pitot tubes measuring pressure in the flow field
- Data transmission: all data ran back to the data acquisition station over more than 300 ft of Ethernet cable
- Thermal protection: cables and equipment wrapped in aerogel insulation blankets against the heat of the engine plume
My part
I led the integration of the Pitot-rake data acquisition system and its test readiness plan, and wrote the risk matrix and contingency plans.
On site, I diagnosed and resolved three critical hardware communication and sensor calibration faults, completing 100% of the planned data collection within a tight test window. I then handled post-processing and review of the test data, providing a traceable raw dataset for the landing leg’s thermal assessment.
What went wrong
Some of the Ethernet cables burned through during testing. Our fix was to wrap the remaining cables in additional aerogel blanket after every test, keeping the data link intact for the tests that followed.