JBC Aerospace Modular Cargo Lander
As part of my nascent journey into 3D modeling and Blender3D, I have been working various personal projects. One of these projects is this lunar cargo lander designed to carry modular cargo containers.
This fictional lander, powered by a quartet of hydrolox liquid fuel engines, is designed to regularly carry one to three containerized pallets to the lunar surface. The lander rendezvouses with an orbital cargo port which transfers the cargo units from larger transport vessels. Robotic arms and locking mechanisms secure the payload to the lander itself while it is being refueled.
From there, the lander returns to the lunar surface with its payload and lands at one of many landing zones. After landing, rolling gantry cranes unload the pallets and stack new ones onboard for trips to orbit.
The cargo lander on final descent to the Moon, with the lunar surface in the background.
The lander in final descent from another angle. You can clearly see the expanded exhaust plume behind the lander.
The lander at terminal guidance, with the vehicle just above the landing zone.
The same scene from a different angle. The lander just moments away from touching down on the landing pad on the lunar surface.
Idea:
After working on a couple spacecraft models in the past, I wanted to focus on something that felt more grounded while being more detailed as well. I was reading a lot about NASA’s Artemis Program, and other technological proposals for cargo landers and thought I would take my on spin on the concept. I wanted to focus on what a proper future space economy would look like. This revolved heavily around the idea of containerized cargo, not much different from what you see traveling the world’s oceans today.
Going with this concept, I focused on the idea of making a space version of the typical ISO shipping container. This then evolved into what is in the final render. I as we took lessons and ideas learned from a couple small satellite type models I made in the past, and applied those principles to the look and style of the lander module itself.
Inspiration for the octagonal style design and the use of gold foil came from previous renders of the Constellation Program’s Altair Lander, as well as Blue Origin’s Blue Moon cargo lander.
Process:
Made in Blender3D, I worked on the cargo pallets and the lander module in tandem. I first started with the basic shape of the lander and then gradually focused in on more detailed components. Some of the components were modeled separately before being brought in and joined to the final model.
Designing the lander in Blender.
Close to the final design with all assets included.
This model made heavy use of procedural materials. The gold and silver foil on the spacecraft exterior, the metallic surfaces, and the expanded exhaust plume were all done procedurally. Online resources proved very useful for this phase of the project, and while I am definitely still a novice at using nodes to build materials, I am starting to get a grasp of how it all works.
This project was also the first time I employed procedural geometry for the lunar surface. Using Blender’s geometry nodes, I rendered a lunar surface for the final landing scenes with the lander above the pad.
Texturing and shading, as well as work on the exhaust plume effect.
Conclusion:
This project was really fun. It has always been a goal of mine to create spaceships and realistic looking renders. When I was younger, I would spend quite a bit of time looking at NASA visualizations of planned future missions. I always wondered how those were made, and now I can say I have a reasonable understanding of the process.
Through this project, I also learned new techniques and skills that I can apply to help improve my modeling for future projects. I definitely want to return to this project and expand on it. Now that I have a cargo container asset, I want to create other spacecrafts and scene that utilize this component. Ultimately, having a whole ecosystem of designs that feature this concept would be an interesting project to tackle and produce.