See the astronauts studying easy methods to stroll on the moon… in Arizona

These images are of JETT3 and D-RATS, two Earth-based missions designed to copy features of future moon landings and assist NASA engineers allow astronauts to do science on the lunar floor

By David Inventory

DEEP within the Arizona desert, astronauts are studying easy methods to stroll on the moon.

On 16 November, an uncrewed SLS rocket launched to lunar orbit, the primary of many missions in NASA’s Artemis programme. Additionally undertaken had been two Earth-based operations, the Joint EVA Check Crew (JETT3) and the Desert Analysis and Expertise Research programme (D-RATS), each designed to copy features of future moon landings and assist NASA engineers design the know-how, protocols and instruments to allow astronauts to do science on the lunar floor.

JETT3 mimicked the deliberate 2025 Artemis III mission to the moon’s south pole, the place astronauts will face difficult lighting situations. The crew operated at evening, utilizing an enormous lighting rig to emulate the solar. New spacesuit applied sciences and sampling instruments had been used in the course of the mock moonwalks, testing the flexibility of astronauts to conduct geological work in tough terrain.

D-RATS examined pressurised rover know-how that can permit astronauts to discover a wider lunar space. In the end, this feeds into NASA’s aim of getting a sustained human presence on the moon and, in the future, on Mars.

Pictured from prime to backside are: NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Drew Feustel; a NASA crew pushing a cart that simulates lunar lighting shadows; Cardman and Feustel throughout a simulated moonwalk; Japan Aerospace Exploration Company D-RATS crew Yusuke Yamasaki and Akihiko Hoshide on a simulated moonwalk; and a D-RATS crew driving a pressurised rover prototype.