MIT high-resolution camera on MAPP¶
IM-2 · landed · commercial payload
A ruggedized Microsoft Azure Kinect: a commercial 12-megapixel color camera with a time-of-flight depth sensor, mounted on Lunar Outpost's MAPP rover. It was to take the first depth images on the Moon, at sub-centimeter resolution, to build a virtual-reality model of the South Pole surface for science and astronaut training. MIT calls the project 'Capturing the Moon'.
PI: Cody Paige (MIT AeroAstro / Space Exploration Initiative)
Built by: MIT (Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative and AeroAstro), with NASA Ames, which ruggedized and tested it, and Lunar Outpost (university)
| Technology | 3D depth camera (modified commercial instrument) |
| Moon Base need | DN-005 L, DN-014 L (The study's reading. Near-field 3D images of the South Pole surface bear on the data gaps for surface optical imagery (DN-005 L) and small-rock sizes and shapes (DN-014 L). MIT's stated aim, VR training for Artemis astronauts, matches no gap directly.) |
| Route onto CLPS | commercial; One of three MIT payloads ('To the Moon to Stay') that MIT placed on Lunar Outpost's MAPP rover, which rode on Intuitive Machines' lander. No NASA selection. The agreement date is not public; NASA Ames and MIT reported it manifested on IM-2 by December 2022. |
| Timeline | first funding 2020 (MIT's RESOURCE cooperative agreement began 2020-02-01; when the camera work started within it is not public); first flight test 2022-05-20 (MIT's parabolic flight); selected not in public sources (manifested by December 2022); launch 2025-02-26; landing 2025-03-06 |
| On the Moon | partly operated |
| FO | company-level |
Flights before the Moon¶
- aircraft (not FO): MIT Space Exploration Initiative's annual ZERO-G charter (parabolic aircraft), 2022-05-20. The camera inside a black box for light-control tests, on lunar-gravity and zero-gravity parabolas.
"The camera was tested on our May 2022 parabolic flight (covered in the black box for light control tests), including several lunar-g and zero-g parabolas"
— General 1 — To the Moon to Stay"This year's regularly scheduled flight flew on May 20, 2022."
— Zero Gravity Flight 2022 — MIT Media LabUserSearchNavSearch
- aircraft (not FO): MIT Space Exploration Initiative's ZERO-G charter (parabolic aircraft), 2024-05-14. The RESOURCE camera flew again on MIT's 2024 reduced-gravity flight. What was tested is not stated.
"Right: Cody Paige operates the RESOURCE Camera, as part of the Capturing the Moon project."
— A parabolic roller coaster into the future of space and lunar exploration — MIT Media LabUserSear…"hosted its sixth annual reduced gravity flight"
— A parabolic roller coaster into the future of space and lunar exploration — MIT Media LabUserSear…, 14 May 2024
Heritage hardware¶
- commercial instrument: A Microsoft Azure Kinect, stripped of its microphones, RF shield and plastics, with new cables, then vibration and thermal vacuum tested at NASA Ames. Before flight it was field-tested on a small rover in Svalbard (October 2022) and the Canary Islands, and at the SSERVI Lunar Testbed at Ames.
"Plastic parts were replaced with vacuum-compatible materials"
— NTRS 20220012532"The instrument functioned nominally at the conclusion of vibration and thermal cycling tests."
— NTRS 20220012532"has traveled to Svalbard and the [Canary Islands]"
— A parabolic roller coaster into the future of space and lunar exploration — MIT Media LabUserSear…
Funding before the lunar flight¶
- NASA cooperative agreement to MIT for its part of the SSERVI RESOURCE project (80NSSC20M0071), led at MIT by Dava Newman, a co-author of the camera work. MIT says the camera began under RESOURCE. The award covers MIT's whole RESOURCE task, not only the camera. (NASA SMD SSERVI (RESOURCE team; CFDA 43.001); 2020-2024): $841,603
"SHE WILL LEAD THE RESOURCE WORK ON HUMAN MACHINE COLLABORATION (HMC) CONCEPTS"
— USAspending.gov, award 80NSSC20M0071, description; obligated 841603.11, 2020-02-01 to 2024-10-15"The Depth Camera payload began as part of the NASA-funded RESOURCE project"
— General 1 — To the Moon to Stay
- NASA Ames in-house work to ruggedize and environmentally test the camera (vibration to GEVS, thermal vacuum). Amount not public. (NASA Ames (RESOURCE); 2022): amount not in public sources
"The unit was evaluated for space flight compliant materials and parts at NASA Ames."
— NTRS 20220012532
How it got onto CLPS¶
"Our payloads will be deployed on a Lunar Outpost MAPP rover to the Lunar south polar region."
— To the Moon to Stay"The Azure Kinect is manifested on the Nova-C lander which flies on the Intuitive Machines mission IM-2"
— NTRS 20220012532
On the Moon¶
MAPP never left the lander, so the camera took no surface images. MIT sent a command to the camera and received its temperature data in transit. MIT still counts it as the first digital 3D camera on the lunar surface.
"we were able to transmit a command for our camera payload and got temperature data for both the camera and the AstroAnt in transit"
— To the Moon to Stay: MIT Lunar Mission Launch 2025 — MIT Media LabUserSearchNavSearch"Intuitive Machines landing on its side prevented MAPP's deployment"
— Private mini rover aboard sideways Athena moon lander was ready to roll — but it couldn't get out"it included the first digital 3D camera deployed on the moon’s surface"
— To the Moon to Stay: MIT Lunar Mission Launch 2025 — MIT Media LabUserSearchNavSearch
FO's role¶
Grade: company-level. No FO flight of the camera; its two parabolic flights were MIT's own charters. The link is the team: the camera came from the same MIT Space Exploration Initiative as AstroAnt, and Ariel Ekblaw, co-investigator on FO's AstroAnt project, is a co-author of the camera's 2022 abstract. Same organization, different technology, so company-level, not 'related'.
FO flights: 0. No FO investment in the camera found. FO's AstroAnt flights are in FO records.
Data: name: Ariel Ekblaw
— TechPort project 106703, contacts, Co-Investigator (FO project 106703)"C. Paige, F. Ward, A. Ekblaw, S. Auffinger and D. Newman Massachusetts Institute of"
— NTRS 20220012532, authors
Who built it¶
"Cody Paige, MIT AeroAstro"
— Overview ‹ Capturing the Moon: Assessing virtual reality for remote Lunar geological fieldwork —…, project lead line"worked alongside the team at NASA Ames, a Microsoft Azure Kinect was ruggedized and flight qualified for the IM-2 mission"
— General 1 — To the Moon to Stay"A commercial Kinect camera from Microsoft has been ruggedized for a CLPS mission to the Lunar South Pole."
— NTRS 20220012532, AGU 2022 abstract, NASA Ames, MIT and Lunar Outpost
Moon Base need¶
"Overlapping 360° panoramas taken from the surface at potential Artemis landing regions"
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: DN-005 L: Optical images from the lunar surface at the lunar south pole"The sub-meter rocks below that are a tip-over hazard for landers and rovers."
— Moon to Mars knowledge base: DN-014 L: High resolution lunar rock size distribution and morphology at the lunar south pole"help us to: better understand the unique terrain in the south polar region, study in situ resources, such as water-ice and volatiles, and prepare for future human missions"
— General 1 — To the Moon to Stay
Open questions¶
- How much of MIT's RESOURCE agreement, and of NASA Ames' time, went to the camera: not in public sources.
- Who paid for the camera's ride on MAPP, and when the deal was made: not in public sources.
- What the 2024 parabolic flight tested on the camera: not stated.