NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Morpheus Update

Project Morpheus team is moving forward with knowledge learned from the 2012 test series and prepares for their 2013 testing. The Morpheus team has been hard at work the last several months building the new Morpheus 1.5B and 1.5C vehicles, assembling the vehicle structures, wiring sensors, and performing integrated tests, including engine firings at Stennis Space Center.

Since the fall, they also combined with the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology team, also known as ALHAT. This development enables a more integrated series of tests as they prepare for future flight tests. One of these integrated tests took place at Kennedy Space Center in December, in which they mounted the ALHAT sensors under the belly of a helicopter pointed in the direction of the helicopter motion. Read more about the test in Morpheus Project blog here http://morpheuslander.jsc.nasa.gov/.

All of this work is leading up to a series of static hot fire and dynamic tethered flight tests at Johnson Space Center this spring in preparation for a return to free flight testing at Kennedy Space Center this summer.

Project Morpheus Team Web site: http://morpheuslander.jsc.nasa.gov