A look at the TeamIndus spacecraft that will land on the Moon

An overview of the components and their function

TeamIndus is launching its spacecraft to the Moon in 2020. This will be the first time any private entity attempts to land on the lunar surface. We have built our spacecraft to survive the landing. Here’s an overview of our spacecraft.

The TeamIndus spacecraft. Seen here are the solar panels (left) and the mounted rover (right).

The spacecraft has 3 major systems:

Spacecraft Bus: The spacecraft bus consists of the structural skeleton, thermal and propulsion systems. Avionics: This system houses the on-board computer, power and communications systems. Payloads: Our rover ECA, the Japanese rover Sorato (which we are also carrying) and all the Lab2Moon experiments are the major payloads onboard the spacecraft.

#1: The structure and thermal systems of the spacecraft

The spacecraft has optical solar reflectors and heat shields to keep itself cool. The lander structure is designed to withstand the impact forces during the launch and landing. The landing gear uses crushable aluminium honeycomb to absorb the impact forces during touchdown on the Moon.

The main structure of the spacecraft that ensures the safety of the subsystems and payloads.

The spacecraft design thus ensures the safety of the payloads and all the subsystems in the spacecraft. The maximum diameter of the spacecraft is decided by the launch vehicle.

The interface ring as shown in the diagram below will be used to connect to the rocket for launch.