New Advances in Space Exploration
More than half a century after Apollo 11, NASA is preparing to send humans back to the Moon. The advances of the Artemis program will reveal new universal secrets, including, potentially, the biggest question of all: are we alone?
The evolution of the spacesuit
When humans step onto the lunar south pole in 2024, they'll be wearing a next-gen space suit, the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU).
The xEMU is composed of interchangeable parts, allowing for mission-specific customization. And to ensure mobility and comfort, researchers at NASA's Anthropometry and Biomechanics Facility use 3D full-body scanning to digitally fit the suits to their astronauts.
For the first time, the design of certain life-support system components is being entrusted to artificial intelligence. That AI is helping NASA create a life-support system that’s as error-proof and as light as possible but also resistant to the intense g-forces and vibrations during a shuttle launch.
With the 2024 Artemis III lunar mission looming, there's no time for physical experimentation. So the AI utilizes different strategies to find a virtual solution. For example, a "generative adversarial network" pits two algorithms against each other, with each trying to devise a more efficient concept. Alternatively, a "genetic algorithm" combines existing designs, selects the best ones and repeats the process; a digital form of evolution. These machine learning systems are 100 to 1,000 times faster than humans and have produced parts that are 50% lighter compared to previous designs.
New suits call for a new shuttle
NASA's next-gen craft, the Space Launch System (SLS), will take those next-gen spacesuits (and their astronauts) into space. The SLS core stage towers 212 feet into the air and harnesses the power of four RS-25 engines, each putting out over 500,000 pounds of thrust.
The core stage is flanked by two SLS boosters — the largest, most powerful solid propellant rockets ever built. Each booster is 177-feet-tall and burns through more than 6 million tons of propellant per second, to generate 3.6 million pounds of thrust – the equivalent of 14 jumbo airliners. Its breath-taking power was on display during a qualification test in 2015:
Combined, the core stage and the SLS boosters output over 8 million pounds of thrust. To attenuate the immense heat, pressure and vibrations during launch, NASA developed the Ignition Overpressure Protection and Sound Suppression (IOP/SS) deluge system. The IOP/SS can deliver 450,000 gallons of water in a minute, as seen here in a test conducted at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ
The Moon is the big prize… for now
The ultimate goal is to create a permanent outpost on the Moon, the perfect location for NASA's Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (LCRT), the most ambitious, largest-ever dish telescope.
The LCRT, composed of a wire mesh with a receiver suspended in the middle, will be 0.6 miles across and observe ultra-long wavelengths more than 30 feet in length. These wavelengths could reveal more of the early universe but can’t be observed properly from Earth because they’re reflected by the ionosphere.
On the far side of the Moon, the LCRT will have the clearest view of the universe yet, unobstructed by atmospheric interference, Earth-based signals, satellite noise and solar radiation (during the lunar night).
Establishing the telescope is relatively simple. It requires two unmanned landers and a suitable crater, up to 3-miles-wide, on the lunar far side. One lander touches down in the center of the crater with the telescope equipment. The other lander sets down on the crater rim. It releases a team of DuAxel Rovers, robots composed of a central module with two detachable axles on either side.
The rovers anchor themselves around the rim of the crater then rappel down to the center. They link up with the guide wires from the telescope's wire mesh and reascend the crater wall, pulling the wire mesh up and across the crater.
The solar system looms large
The Moon will only momentarily sate the inherent human appetite for reaching out into space. From a lunar outpost, future spacefarers can leap-frog to Mars and then the planets and moons beyond, eventually opening up the entire solar system for exploration.