CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – This aerial view shows the north end of the
Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility. At the end of the
runway, in the upper right, a rock and crater-filled planetary scape has
been built so engineers can test the Autonomous Landing and Hazard
Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT system on the Project Morpheus lander.
Testing will demonstrate ALHAT’s ability to provide required navigation
data negotiating the Morpheus lander away from risks during descent.
Checkout of the prototype lander has been ongoing at NASA’s Johnson
Space Center in Houston in preparation for its first free flight. The
SLF site will provide the lander with the kind of field necessary for
realistic testing. Project Morpheus is one of 20 small projects
comprising the Advanced Exploration Systems, or AES, program in NASA’s
Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. AES projects
pioneer new approaches for rapidly developing prototype systems,
demonstrating key capabilities and validating operational concepts for
future human missions beyond Earth orbit. For more information on
Project Morpheus, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/exploration/morpheus/index.html
Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett