Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Artist’s view of two Artemis astronauts at work on the lunar surface.
Image credit: NASA

Earth’s neighboring Moon is far from being a “been there, done that” world even taking into account a dozen Apollo moonwalking visitors between 1969 and 1972.

There is now a convergence of reasons to return to the Moon, not only for science, but for economic and security motives, as well as signaling global leadership through international partnerships.

Image credit: NASA

Array of issues

The Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is home of a Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium, funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). That consortium is tackling an array of issues for STMD’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative.

APL focus group meetings pay attention to all manner of lunar challenges: From appraising surface power hardware on the Moon to utilization of on-the-spot lunar resources to churn out oxygen and other products, like rocket propellant.

Credit: NASA

Deep dives

The specialized focus groups also make deep dives into excavation and construction ideas, curbing dust problems, and dealing with the moon’s extreme and brutal environment.

Rounding out the focus group topic list is how human and robotic systems will be employed to access hard to get to lunar sites, like probing subsurface caves and lava tubes.

Image credit: NASA

For more details, go to my new SpaceNews story – “How the Applied Physics Laboratory is tackling Artemis Moon exploration” – at:

https://spacenews.com/how-the-applied-physics-laboratory-is-tackling-challenges-facing-artemis-moon-exploration/