Building a base on the moon is not an easy task. This requires electricity, vehicles and living quarters, but the American space industry is already working on developing the necessary technologies, writes AFP, as quoted by Agerpres. Companies know that these are cash contracts and are working on many things related to a future permanent settlement where people can then go to Mars.

Monthly after 2030

NASA doesn’t just want to go back to the moon, it wants astronauts to stay there longer. Through its Artemis program, the US space agency intends to settle and live on a celestial body other than Earth for the first time.

“It’s a bit like the Engineering World Cup,” summed up Neil Davis, who works at Dynetics, a US company developing a prototype lunar vehicle (rover), to AFP last month at a Space Symposium event in Colorado Springs.

Humanity will likely have to wait until Artemis 7 and subsequent missions have “permanent habitats on the lunar surface,” NASA Assistant Administrator Jim Freeh said at the same meeting. That won’t happen before the 2030s.

The future lunar base will consist, a priori, of several sites, he clarified, in order to diversify the places of scientific research and offer greater flexibility for landing maneuvers on the moon.

Communications and electricity

Despite such a seemingly distant time horizon, many companies are interested in such projects.

“The first step is communications,” said Joe Landon, director of Crescent Space, Lockheed Martin’s new lunar services unit. Internet”.

With the “constellation”, which will initially include two satellites, the company wants to become a provider of Internet and GPS services on the moon. Thus, it will reduce the pressure on NASA’s network, which is at risk of becoming overwhelmed by the large number of future missions, including private ones.

Joe Landon estimated the monthly market at “$100 billion in the next ten years.”

The second imperative: connection to electricity.

Astrobotic, with 220 employees, is one of three companies selected by NASA to develop vertical solar panels.

At the south pole of the Moon – the intended destination because there is water in the form of ice – the Sun rises very slightly above the horizon. Its rays are directed horizontally.

The 18-meter-tall panels, designed by Astrobotic, will be interconnected by cables several kilometers long, explained Mike Provenzano, director of the Lunar Surface Equipment Department.

The panels will be able to be folded and folded as desired, as well as moved to other areas if necessary.

For its astronaut science expeditions, NASA has asked aerospace firms to build an unpressurized (open) two-person vehicle that will be available in 2028.

Unlike the vehicles in the Apollo missions, it must also be able to operate autonomously for unmanned missions. That means the future unpressurized rover would have to survive lunar nights that could last two weeks, when temperatures drop to about -170 degrees Celsius.

Numerous companies entered this race. Lockheed Martin uses the experience of the General Motors group in the field of electric 4×4 vehicles.

Dynetics, a subsidiary of the giant Leidos, cooperates with Nascar, the organizer of car races in the United States.

The prototype, which will reach speeds of up to 15 km/h, includes a robotic arm and tires made of woven metal, explained engineer Neil Davies. “They are designed for good grip, including on rocks (…), but also have a lot of holes on the sides to keep dust from accumulating,” he added.

Moon dust is a serious problem because it is not washed away by water or wind, and is almost as abrasive as glass.

NASA has not yet announced the company or companies it has selected. In the long term, he is working with the Japan Space Agency (JAXA) to also develop a sealed vehicle that would not require a spacesuit.

Future solar houses

Astronauts will also need a “home” NASA has signed a $57.2 million contract with Texas company ICON, which specializes in 3D printing, to develop the technology needed to build roads, landing strips and living quarters on the moon. Lunar soil will be used as building material.

Other companies, such as Lockheed Martin, are developing inflatable habitat concepts.

“You can send them in a small package, which is important because the available space on the rocket is limited,” explained Kirk Shireman, the company’s vice president and coordinator of its lunar exploration division. After inflation, “there will be a place with a much larger volume in which you can live and work,” he added.

Inside, there will be living rooms, a kitchen, and scientific equipment. In addition, the whole concept is mobile.

In the long term, the goal of the Artemis project is to prepare missions to more distant regions of space. And turn the lunar base into a Martian one.

Kirk Shireman confirmed this aspect: “However much money we have to spend to develop these systems on the Moon, we want them to be applicable on Mars as well.”