In August 2013 the hazard field was completed. In July 2013 a hazard field (test area for the lander) consisting of 200 tons of lunar simulant began construction at the Marshall Space Flight Center. In 2013, enhancements were made including legs that are lighter by about 6.8 kg (15 lbs), a 3D stereo camera that allows the detection and avoidance of 3D (three dimensional) objects and an onboard image processor in preparation for "hazard avoidance" testing. In 2012, a test area at MSFC was developed and the Mighty Eagle tested "Autonomous Rendezvous and Capture" technology. Outdoor testing at another facility ran from August to November 2011. The vehicle was transported to an indoor test facility and bolted to the ground for initial testing, followed by free flight testing. The design of the vehicle began in late 2009 and integration was completed in January 2011. Key partners in this project include the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, the Science Applications International Corporation, Dynetics Corporation and Teledyne Brown Engineering. The Mighty Eagle prototype lander was developed by the Marshall Center and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. The knowledge gained from this development and testing was used in the design of the Mighty Eagle. Initial software and hardware development were done on precursor vehicle called the Cold Gas Test Article which used compressed air as a propellant and had about 10 seconds of flight time. These sensors and algorithms include such things as onboard cameras that, with specialized guidance, navigation and control software, could aid in the capture of orbiting space debris, in-space docking with a fuel depot, docking of a robotic lander with an orbiting command module and the rendezvous of multiple unmanned stages for deep space human exploration of the Solar System. The vehicle is an autonomous flying testbed that is used for testing hardware, sensors and algorithms. The Mighty Eagle (also known as the Warm Gas Test Article) is a prototype robotic lander developed by NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Not to be confused with the Angry Birds character with the same name.
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