Through every failure a lesson may be learned and a triumph may be had, especially in the case of the Morpheus/Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) Project. Despite an early setback in the project, the team who worked on and integrated Morpheus with ALHAT won the inaugural Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Innovation Award at the AES year-end review by overcoming challenges with the project.

The award recognizes NASA AES innovations that have significant potential to reduce costs, improve safety and increase the performance capabilities of human space exploration missions. It also rewards the AES workforce for demonstrating ingenuity, determination, resilience and teamwork in successfully developing these innovations.

Morpheus is a prototype lander designed for vertical takeoff and landing. The project was created to test technologies that can benefit future human exploration space missions, particularly advancing "green" liquid oxygen/methane propulsion and safe, precision landing. The ALHAT project advances state-of-the-art navigation and hazard detection and avoidance to enable safe landings near rocks and craters.

The beginning stages of this project started with tethered tests connected to a crane at Johnson Space Center. After 25 successful tests with the tether, the team moved the project to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for free-flight testing. However, during the second free flight at KSC, the vehicle crashed.

Wendy Watkins, AES social media lead, said everyone learned a lot from the crash.

"Within a month, the team had selected over 70 upgrades for the vehicle and ground systems," Watkins said. "The 'Bravo' vehicle was built and flying just six months later."

In December, Morpheus completed its 13th successful free flight at KSC, including five with ALHAT operating onboard, and is now getting shipped back to JSC.

"Morpheus and ALHAT have successfully completed the testing they set out to do, and the vehicle remains as an asset for future use," Watkins said. "If there are more technologies to be tested, the capability is there."

Jon Olansen is the project manager of Morpheus, and Chirold Epp is the project manager of ALHAT. Olansen wrote in an email to his team, "Chirold and I expressed our appreciation for all of your efforts to the assembled crowd, detailing the breadth of the team across eight centers and the variety of ingenious solutions small and large that were necessary to accomplish what we did."

"After the loss of the 'Alpha' vehicle, the Morpheus/ALHAT team really embodied the spirit of failing forward; diving back in with corrections and innovative improvements that allowed us to accomplish our goals," Olansen continued.

Morpheus is an example of using failure in a smart way to improve on an existing project. With teamwork, skill and a positive work ethic, Morpheus and ALHAT took off in a constructive way to reach new levels for space exploration.