Blue Origin

Strut Installation and Alignment

Under NASA's NextSTEP-2 Appendix P Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) contract, Blue Origin and its National Team partners will develop and fly the Blue Moon MK2 lunar lander that can make a precision landing anywhere on the Moon's surface. Blue Moon's capability to provide precise and soft landings will enable a sustained human presence on the Moon. The structure of the lunar lander is held together by composite struts. It is critical that the struts are installed onto the Lunar Lander at the correct length to align the structure without several rounds of adjustment to avoid pre-loading of the structure or incurring production delays. This student team worked to create a tool that can precisely set the length of each strut to its nominal length as well as the length that matches the as-built condition of the structure. Dimensions and tolerances of the struts and structure were provided. This student team worked to demonstrate that their tool enables strut installation that supports the requirements of the structure without having to go through several rounds of adjustment. The tool could be physical or simulation-based or a combination of both. The student team worked to create a mock up of the structure and struts by the end of the project that validated the use of their tool.