Preliminary design of a Lunar Nano Drone for a mission of exploration of lava tubes on the Moon: study of the Mission Flight Profile and identification of the most suitable Energy Storage System

On September 25th, 2020, Hon. Riccardo Fraccaro, Undersecretary of State at the Presidency of the Italian Council of Ministers and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine signed a joint statement of intent for cooperation in the Artemis Program. This new chapter in NASA's lunar exploration has the task of not just going to the Moon, to create a long-term human presence on and around it, but also to prepare for ever-more-complex human missions to Mars. The United States and Italy have a long history of successful cooperation in science and exploration of outer space for peaceful uses. It all began in 1962, the year of the cooperation agreement that allowed two years later to launch the San Marco satellite from the USA, the first Italian object in orbit. More recently, the Italy-United States agreement on the supply of pressurised modules for the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS) has given Italy privileged access (for astronauts and experiments) to the orbiting outpost. This new declaration of intent focuses on Italy's possible contribution to habitat modules, telecommunications and enabling technologies, all in relation to future activities on the lunar surface. This work concentrates specifically on these enabling technologies. In particular, this study aims to achieve the preliminary design of a spacecraft, called “LuNaDrone” (Lunar Nano Drone) and its mission definition, whose purpose is to explore lunar caves. The concept of a LuNaDrone is based on the strategic idea already experienced with Cubesat: small spacecraft, low mass, low cost, standardised, affordable by Academies and SME's and easy to deliver in Space. As mentioned before, NASA's goal is to create a long-term human presence on the Moon. In this regard, NASA, ESA and other agencies have been exploring for many years the possibility of stable lava tubes as a potential site. In 2009, data provided by the Terrain Camera aboard JAXA’s SELENE spacecraft indicated the presence of three huge pits on the surface of the Moon. These pits were of particular interest since they were seen as possible openings (or skylights) to subsurface lava channels. The Marius Hills region, where they were found, is likely to be the site of future lunar missions and could even be the site of a future lunar habitat. Consequently, these are the reasons why the LuNaDrone's mission objective is to explore the inside of one of these lunar caves. Considering the context in which this study is developed, it is rather clear that this thesis cannot follow a purely theoretical approach as a crucial role will be played by the feasibility of the mission and the selection, where possible, of Italian technologies, which will inevitably influence many system-level solutions. In addition to a preliminary study on the general characteristics of the mission, this thesis will address two specific issues: the identification of the most suitable energy storage system, and the development a physical model of a physical model able to simulate the propellant consumption associated with the various flight phases that the LuNaDrone will have to perform. Finally, this model will not only be crucial in the design and sizing of the individual spacecraft subsystems, but will also make it possible to assess the feasibility of the mission itself.