NASA is slated to send the first and next women to the moon in 2024 and has revealed what the crew will call home: a mobile RV vehicle.
The US space agency is abandoning concepts of inflatable tents and underground bases, and is now looking at a pressurized surface vehicle.
The space group recently joined forces with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which has been designing a six-wheel autonomous Toyota rover vehicle, providing Japan with a key role in the Artemis program.
The RV-like rover will accommodate two people for up to 14 days, allowing them to live and work indoors while traveling through the moon.
Scroll down to watch videos
NASA recently joined the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which has been designing a self-driving, six-wheeled lunar vehicle with Toyota for two years, providing Japan with a key role in the Artemis program.
Mark Kirasich, acting director of NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems, said in a video interview: “The pressurized rover is truly an incredible item, a human item.”
“I’ve been to a lot of spacecraft on the ground, I’ve been to the International Space Station on the ground, this is the coolest item I’ve seen for people because they can live and work inside.”
“It’s kind of like a space station, kind of a habitat for up to 14 days for two people, but it’s on wheels and you can go places.”
“It’s like an RV for the moon, very cool.”
Last year, JAXA showed renderings for its moon vehicle designed with the solar car company Toyota that runs on solar energy and fuel cell technology, and now NASA has joined the team.
NASA is slated to send the first and subsequent women to the moon in 2024 and has revealed what the crew will call home: a mobile surface vehicle. The US space agency is abandoning concepts of inflatable tents and underground bases, and is now looking at a pressurized surface vehicle.
Although NASA is working with Japan, it will continue to design its own rover without pressure because the JAXAs will not be ready until the end of the decade.
The US space agency signed an agreement with the Japanese government this month, called a Joint Exploration Statement of Intent that helps Japan increase its role in the Artemis program, reports Space News.
The deal allows JAXA to take the lead in designing what could be the first permanent habitat for the Artemis crew – a date has not been released for the rover’s launch to the moon.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a brief statement about the deal earlier this month: “Today’s signing of this statement of intent builds on the long history of successful cooperation between the United States and Japan in space “
“We appreciate Japan’s strong support for Artemis and look forward to extending the strong partnership we have enjoyed on the International Space Station to cislunar space, the lunar surface and beyond.”
Bridenstein noted that NASA considered it important to involve JAXA in a ‘main surface element’ such as a pressurized rover, despite previous studies by the US space agency on a pressurized lunar rover.
“There was an idea that even though we’ve done a lot of work, we allow the Japanese to lead the development of a pressurized rover,” he said.
NASA is still working on its own pressureless rover that will be similar to what was used in the last three Apollo missions for when Artemis first landed on the moon.
This is because the pressurized vehicle from Japan will not be read until the end of the decade.
JAXA’s vehicle can travel together with its own astronauts to the moon in the 2030s.
JAXA Vice President Koichi Wakata said: “Lunar gravity is one-sixth that of Earth.”
Meanwhile, the moon has complex terrain with craters, cliffs, and hills. Furthermore, it is exposed to radiation and temperature conditions that are much harsher than Earth’s, as well as an ultra-high vacuum environment.
A pressurized cabin will allow the rover to transport astronauts over long distances on the moon’s surface. The Toyota concept vehicle, revealed in a new video and series of images today, will be designed to hold two astronauts and runs on fuel cell technology.
“For extensive human exploration of the moon, a pressurized rover is required that can travel more than 10,000 km in such environments.”
Toyota’s proposed pressurized vehicle this week is six meters long and 3.8 meters high, or about the size of two minibuses, according to the automaker.
Although it is intended to carry two people, Toyota says it can accommodate four in an emergency situation.
Astronauts could travel in the vehicle without their space suits, while still having enough space to get in and out while wearing the bulky suits.
Running in a fuel cell, the moon vehicle will only emit excess water and air.
JAXA and Toyota have been working together to study the plan since May 2018.
NASA will land the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis mission
Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and the goddess of the Moon in Greek mythology.
NASA chose her to personify her way back to the Moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface by 2024, including the first woman and the next man.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will allow human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
Artemis 1 will be the first integrated flight test of NASA’s deep space exploration system: the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and the ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Artemis 1 will be an unmanned flight that will provide a foundation for exploration of human deep space and demonstrate our commitment and ability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.
During this flight, the spacecraft will launch into the world’s most powerful rocket and will fly farther than any human-made spacecraft.
It will travel 280,000 miles (450,600 km) from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon in the course of a mission of approximately three weeks.
Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will allow human exploration of the Moon and Mars. This graphic explains the different stages of the mission.
Orion will stay in space longer than any astronaut ship without docking at a space station and will return home faster and hotter than ever.
With this first exploration mission, NASA leads the next steps in deep space human exploration where astronauts will build and begin testing the near-moon systems needed for lunar surface missions and exploration to other destinations more. away from Earth, including Mars.
They will take the crew on a different path and test critical Orion systems with humans on board.
The SLS rocket will go from an initial configuration capable of sending more than 26 metric tons to the Moon, to a final configuration that can send at least 45 metric tons.
Together, Orion, SLS, and the ground systems at Kennedy will be able to meet the most challenging needs of the crew and cargo mission in deep space.
Finally, NASA seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon by 2028 as a result of the Artemis mission.
The space agency hopes that this colony will uncover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advancements, and lay the groundwork for private companies to build a lunar economy.
.
