Rahul Shirke, CEO of ARCEON, is ‘delighted’ to support the first student mission to the moon. “The Lunar Zebro mission provides an amazing opportunity for the students to get hands-on experience and familiarise themselves with cutting-edge technology”, he says. For the YES!Delft based company, the project gives them an opportunity to prove the credibility of their new material.

“Space missions are cost intensive and get a single chance to get everything right. We would like to use materials which enhances the rover’s capabilities, reduces risk and bring down overall launch cost”
Maneesh Kumar Verma, Team Leader & Head of Operations

Lighter than aluminum
CMC is one of the best suited materials for space applications, the company states. It offers highest environmental stability with outgassing below detection limits, near zero coefficient of thermal expansion, wide range of thermal resistance (from cryogenic to 1600 °C and above), high specific strength, corrosion resistance and, most importantly: it is 25 percent lighter than aluminum alloys.

The Rover
The Lunar Zebro rover is first of its kind project for a university and hence the team has brought in simplicity via ground-breaking innovations. The rover’s hull consists of two main parts, the chassis and the bottom plate. This gives the rover a robust and easy to assemble design. The C-shaped legs are asymmetrically aligned on each side of the rover,  giving it as much stability as possible on rough terrain while keeping the rover compact.

Antenna Deployment System
Internally, a mother board connects all subsystems to each other, reducing number of parts and harness. Attached to the solar panel, is the distinctive Antenna Deployment System (ADS), which guarantees that the antenna is always vertical to the ground, no matter the angle of the panel, so that direct communication to Earth is uninterrupted.

Launch in 2022
The launch for Lunar Zebro mission is scheduled for early 2022. “Space missions are cost intensive and get a single chance to get everything right. We would like to use materials which enhances the rover’s capabilities, reduces risk and bring down overall launch cost. ARCEON’s material ticks all the right boxes” , Maneesh Kumar Verma, Team Leader & Head of Operations at the Lunar Zebro Project, says.

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