+ Play
Audio
|
+ Download Audio | +
Email to a friend | +
Join mailing list
April
8, 2009: The flight computer onboard the Lunar Excursion
Module, which landed on the Moon during the Apollo program,
had a whopping 4 kilobytes of RAM and a 74 KB "hard drive."
In places, the craft's outer skin was as thin as two sheets
of aluminum foil.
It
worked well enough for Apollo. Back then, astronauts stayed
on the lunar surface for only a few days at a time. But when
NASA sends people back to the Moon starting around 2020, the
plan will be much more ambitious — and the hardware is going
to need a major upgrade.
Right:
Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean on the Moon in 1969.
Instead
of staying for days, astronauts will be living on the Moon
for months on end, and they will push the envelope of exploration
farther than ever before. So NASA is developing a new generation
of hardware to meet the needs of this new mission: intelligent
robots, truck-sized lunar rovers with pressurized cabins,
inflatable habitats, and more.
"If
we want to stay on the Moon for longer, then we have to develop
the equipment necessary to survive in that environment,"
says Frank Peri, director of NASA's Exploration Technology
Development Program (ETDP).
During
the Apollo era, robotic sidekicks existed only in the realm
of science fiction. If astronauts needed to move some heavy
equipment, they had to pick it up themselves; if they wanted
to investigate a crater, they couldn't send in a robot for
a first look. Semi-autonomous robots being developed by ETDP
will lower risks by helping astronauts with such tasks.
A
six-legged, spider-like robot called ATHLETE (short for All-Terrain
Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer) will handle the heavy
lifting. "It's basically a big flatbed truck, so you
can put things on it to move them around," Peri says.
A prototype built at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory has
wheels on the end of each leg. That way, it can roll under
the lander module, for example, lift it up, and roll it to
another location -- stepping over boulders that might lie
in the way. Astronauts could also replace the wheel on one
or more legs with drills or other tools so that ATHLETE can
help them with other maintenance or exploration tasks.
Above:
All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer--ATHLETE
for short. Other images show ATHLETE at work carrying prototype
lunar habitat modules: #1,
#2.
ATHLETE,
along with smaller robots being developed by ETDP as scouts,
will have the CPU power it takes to respond to vocal and gestural
cues from the astronauts, as well as the capability to be
remotely controlled from a distance. Four kilobytes of RAM
will not be enough for these brainy
machines.
When
astronauts do venture out across the lunar surface themselves,
they'll have a much better ride than the old Apollo moonbuggy.
"If you've seen those videos of astronauts driving the
Apollo rover on the Moon, you've seen that the ride was pretty
harsh," Peri says. If that rover resembled a dune buggy,
the new rover being developed by ETDP will be more like an
RV. It will have an enclosed cabin complete with sleeping
space so that astronauts can rest during long excursions.
Bubble-shaped windows will let explorers observe the lunar
surface up close without leaving the safety of the vehicle.
Sometimes,
though, nothing can replace getting out and doing some hands-on
exploration. Spacesuits attached to the outside of rover will
make it easy for astronauts to slide directly into the suits
from the comfort of the cabin -- no airlock required. And
those spacesuits will be able to handle much longer exposure
to abrasive lunar dust than Apollo suits could. "Those
Apollo suits were practically trash by the time the three
days were up," Peri says. "These new suits will
have to last in that harsh environment for months or years."
Right:
A model of a prototype lunar rover. Spacesuits integrated
into the exterior of the rover eliminate the need for conventional
airlocks. [Larger
image]
When
they return to base, these future lunar explorers will need
a home that can provide air, water, food, and protection from
harmful radiation for months. The Apollo lander's thin skin
wouldn't shield enough of the radiation that pervades space
to protect astronauts' health for that long. And the astronauts
are going to need much larger power systems, life-support
equipment, and living and working spaces to be able to fulfill
their mission.
So
EDTP is developing inflatable
habitats that will balloon up to full size after arriving
on the Moon, as well as techniques to make durable materials
out of the lunar regolith (lunar soil). Surrounding the habitat
with thick layers of a regolith-based material would provide
excellent radiation shielding for the occupants inside.
It's
all quite a tall order. But the payoff for developing these
technologies now will be more than just a long-term human
presence on the Moon. While the hardware required for living
on the Moon for months is very different from that needed
by the Apollo program, it's very similar to the hardware needed
to live someplace else:
Mars.
SEND
THIS STORY TO A FRIEND
Editor: Dr.
Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
|