Include Habitat, Rover, And Space Suits
Blueprints for an outpost on the moon are shaping up, NASA tells
ANN. The agency's Lunar Architecture Team has been hard at work,
looking at concepts for habitation, rovers, and space suits.
NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon by 2020, using the
Ares and Orion spacecraft already under development. Astronauts
will set up a lunar outpost -- possibly near a south pole site
called Shackleton Crater -- where they’ll conduct scientific
research, as well as test technologies and techniques for possible
exploration of Mars and other destinations.
Even though Shackleton Crater entices NASA scientists and
engineers, they don’t want to limit their options. To provide
for maximum flexibility, NASA is designing hardware that would work
at any number of sites on the moon. Data from the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, a moon-mapping mission set to
launch in October 2008, might suggest that another lunar site would
be best suited for the outpost.
First, astronauts on the moon will need someplace to live. NASA
officials had been looking at having future moonwalkers bring
smaller elements to the moon, and assemble them on site. But the
Lunar Architecture Team found that sending larger modules ahead of
time on a cargo lander would help the outpost get up and running
more quickly.
The team is also discussing the possibility of a mobile habitat
module that would allow one module of the outpost to relocate to
other lunar destinations as mission needs dictate.
NASA is also considering small, pressurized rovers that could be
key to productive operations on the moon’s surface. Engineers
envision rovers that would travel in pairs -- two astronauts in
each rover -- and could be driven nearly 125 miles away from the
outpost to conduct science or other activities. If one rover had
mechanical problems, the astronauts could ride home in the
other.
Astronauts inside the rovers wouldn't need special clothing
because the pressurized rovers would have what's called a
"shirt-sleeve environment." Spacesuits would be attached to the
exterior of the rover. NASA's lunar architects are calling them
"step in" spacesuits because astronauts could crawl directly from
the rovers into the suits to begin a moonwalk.
NASA is also looking to industry for proposals for a
next-generation spacesuit. The agency hopes to have a contractor on
board by mid-2008.
NASA will spend the next several months communicating the work
of the Lunar Architecture Team to potential partners -- the
aerospace community, industry, and international space agencies --
to get valuable feedback that will help NASA further refine plans
for the moon outpost. The agency's goal is to have finalized plans
by 2012 to get "boots on the moon" by 2020.
(Story and images courtesy of NASA)