Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

What equipment can work well while withstanding the tough lunar environment? Shown here is technology that has potential for fabricating structures on the Moon utilizing local materials for construction purposes.
Image credit: Contour Crafting and University of Southern California

While the Artemis return to the Moon effort is indeed one giant leap for the United States to regain a foothold there, much work is ahead to sustain living and work-a-day activities within the harsh and stark lunar environment.

A next step for getting hardware to run in tip-top shape on the Moon is establishing a pilot program to assess what technologies work best once down and dirty on the lunar terrain.

Leslie Gertsch, a space mining expert, sees the Moon as a resource-rich world.
Image credit: Barbara David

NASA is pressing forward on creating public private partnerships for companies – large and small – to ace out hardware bugs, not only here on Earth, but also in real-time on the Moon.

NASA senior technologist Rob Mueller talks with Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin about the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) that was developed at the Kennedy Space Center Swamp Works.
Image credit: NASA/John Smegelsky

Work is underway to identify technology gaps that could be bridged by innovative companies with fresh ideas.

For detailed information, go to my new Multimedia SpaceRef story — “Wanted: Lunar Proving Grounds – Testing Technologies for the Moon” – at:

https://spaceref.com/newspace-and-tech/wanted-lunar-proving-grounds-testing-technologies-for-the-moon/