“NASA took a big step Tuesday towards permitting people on the moon to ‘reside off the land,'” studies the Washington Publish.
NASA awarded a number of contracts “to construct touchdown pads, roads and habitats on the lunar floor, use nuclear energy for power, and even lay a high-voltage energy line over half a mile…”
As an alternative of going to the moon and returning house, as was executed throughout the Apollo period of the Nineteen Sixties and early ’70s, NASA intends to construct a sustainable presence specializing in the lunar South Pole, the place there’s water within the type of ice. The contracts awarded Tuesday are among the first steps the company is taking towards growing the applied sciences that might enable people to reside for prolonged intervals of time on the moon and in deep area. Supplies on the moon should be used to extract the requirements akin to water, gasoline and steel for building, mentioned Prasun Desai, NASA’s appearing affiliate administrator for area expertise. “We’re attempting to start out that expertise growth to make {that a} actuality sooner or later,” he mentioned.
The biggest award, $34.7 million, went to billionaire Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin area enterprise, which has been engaged on a challenge since 2021 referred to as Blue Alchemist to construct photo voltaic cells and transmission wire out of the moon’s regolith — rocks and filth. In a weblog put up this yr, Blue Origin mentioned it developed a reactor that reaches temperatures of almost 3,000 levels and makes use of {an electrical} present to separate iron, silicon and aluminum from oxygen within the regolith. The testing, utilizing a lunar regolith simulant, has created silicon pure sufficient to make photo voltaic cells for use on the lunar floor, the corporate mentioned. [NASA says it could also be used to make wires.] The oxygen could possibly be used for people to breathe. “To make long-term presence on the moon viable, we want plentiful electrical energy,” the corporate wrote within the put up. “We will make energy methods on the moon immediately from supplies that exist all over the place on the floor, with out particular substances introduced from Earth.”
The award is one other indication that Blue Origin is attempting to place itself as a key participant in serving to NASA construct a everlasting presence on and across the moon as a part of the Artemis program… The corporate mentioned it’s growing a solar-powered storage tank to maintain propellants at 20 levels Kelvin, or about minus-423 levels Fahrenheit, so spacecraft can refuel in area as an alternative of returning to Earth between missions.
Different winners cited within the article:
- Zeno Energy, which “intends to make use of nuclear power to supply energy on the moon,” obtained a $15 million contract (partnering with Blue Origin).
- Astrobotic — which plans to launch a lander to the moon this yr — received a $34.6 million contract “to construct an influence line that might transmit electrical energy from a lunar lander’s photo voltaic arrays to a rover. It in the end intends to construct a bigger energy supply utilizing photo voltaic arrays on the moon’s floor.”
- Redwire gained a $12.9 million contract “to assist construct roads and touchdown pads on the moon. It could use a microwave emitter to soften the regolith and remodel treacherous rocky landscapes into clean, strong surfaces, mentioned Mike Gold, Redwire’s chief progress officer.”
The applied sciences — which embrace in-space 3D printing — “will develop trade capabilities for a sustained human presence on the Moon,” NASA mentioned in a press release.
The U.S. area company will contribute a complete of $150 million, with every firm contributing at the least 10-25% of the whole price (primarily based on their measurement). “Partnering with the industrial area trade lets us at NASA harness the power of American innovation and ingenuity,” mentioned NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson. “The applied sciences that NASA is investing in at present have the potential to be the inspiration of future exploration.”
“Our partnerships with trade could possibly be a cornerstone of humanity’s return to the Moon underneath Artemis,” mentioned appearing affiliate administrator Desai. “By creating new alternatives for streamlined awards, we hope to push essential applied sciences over the end line to allow them to be utilized in future missions.
“These progressive partnerships will assist advance capabilities that may allow sustainable exploration on the Moon.”
