Draper has developed a leading vision navigation solution, the draper multi-environment navigator (dmen). The development of dmen, funded by a number of agencies including the U.S. Army, DARPA, and…

This federal contract award to The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. (Draper) supports the development of Draper's Multi-Environment Navigator (DMEN) technology. DMEN is a vision navigation solution that has demonstrated success in relevant environments such as guided precision parachute delivery, high-speed UAV flight, and simulated ISS capsules.

The current award, valued at $494,746.59, will fund a suborbital rocket test campaign to further advance DMEN towards becoming a viable entry, descent, and landing (EDL) navigation platform, with potential applications for lunar and Mars exploration. Draper is a prime contractor for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, so this test campaign could directly feed into future lunar exploration missions.

The contract was awarded by the Shared Services Center, a civilian agency, and does not utilize any set-aside designations. Draper has a strong track record of federal contract and grant awards, including work with the Department of Defense, NASA, and the Department of Health and Human Services, across a wide range of advanced technology domains.

Draper has developed a leading vision navigation solution, the draper multi-environment navigator (dmen). The development of dmen, funded by a number of agencies including the U.S. Army, DARPA, and NASA, has shown a high degree of success operating in relevant environments including guided precision parachute delivery, high-speed, near-ground UAV flight, and mock ISS capsules. Dmen is currently performing a high-altitude balloon campaign funded by the flight opportunities program, with the stated goal of pushing dmen and its associated algorithms and software further towards becoming a viable entry, descent, and landing (EDL) navigation platform. Under topic 1 of the current solicitation, specifically the sub-topic descent and landing technologies that increase access to the lunar surface, including those with extensibility to mars entry, descent and landing (EDL), draper proposes to follow on to the first dmen campaign by proposing a suborbital rocket test campaign, bringing dmen to higher altitudes and faster velocities that are more representative of lunar descent trajectory. As draper is a prime contractor for the clps program, this test campaign has the potential to feed directly into future NASA lunar exploration.