NASA is preparing for its most ambitious lunar mission in more than half a century: Artemis III, which will allow the first woman and first person of color to walk on the Moon in 2025.
Before the historic landing of the Artemis III mission, which is expected to take place in 2025, NASA still has to overcome some technical challenges, in particular that ofWe can efficiently and safely transport astronauts from their spacecraft to the lunar surface.
This is why the space agency is working in particular on a lunar elevator. The latter is an innovative concept that features a basket-shaped platform that slides along a vertical track attached to the side of the lander. The elevator will allow the crew to descend from the top of SpaceX’s Starship HLS landerwhich will transport it from the Orion capsule in orbit around the Moon, to the dusty ground below.
NASA is working on a lunar elevator for its astronauts
The Starship HLS lander will be a modified version of the Starship vehicle that SpaceX is developing for interplanetary missions and which recently completed its second test flight. The lander will have a spacious cabin, large windows and multiple engines for landing and ascent.
To test the feasibility of the lunar elevator, NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Doug Wheelock recently performed it a simulation exercise at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, as can be seen in the image above. They carried spacesuits and climbed into a model of the elevator capsulewith realistic controls and interfaces.
The test was designed to evaluate the performance of the elevator system, as well as the mobility and comfort of the astronauts. The crew was able to provide feedback on various aspects of the elevator, such as door closures, ramp opening, cargo space, and movement along the tracks, which should allow NASA to improve it within the scope of the Artemis III mission.
The lunar elevator is one of the many innovations that NASA is working on for the Artemis III mission, which will mark the first human landing on the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. We are thinking in particular of the new spacesuits, which have the advantage to use an electric field to combat lunar dust. Before setting foot on the Moon again, NASA has already launched Artemis I in 2022, an uncrewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket. Artemis II will follow in 2024, with a crew of four astronauts performing a flyby of the Moon.
2023-12-29 08:42:39
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