In this 2011 NASA Desert RATS illustration, a Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, center left, is docked with a two-story Habitation Demonstration Unit "hovering" near an asteroid. A two person Multi-Purpose Space Exploration Vehicle, far left, descends to the surface of the asteroid with two explorers. Image Credit/NASA Illustration
NASA will focus its energies on preparations for a mission to a near Earth asteroid late this month, as it joins forces with dozens of experts from academia and industry, the European and Canadian space agencies on the Black Rock Lava Flow in northern Arizona and other remote locales.
The 14th annual exercise, known as Desert Research and Technology Studies or RATS, runs from Aug. 27 through Sept. 12. Check the Desert RATS 2011 website for more information and options for following the activites on Facebook, Twitter and Ustream.
The “analog” deep space mission, in which nearly 150 engineers, scientists and a few astronauts have enlisted, will test habitats, multi mission space exploration vehicles and other exploration aids. About half the participants will be posted in NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston or at the European Space Research andTechnologyCenterin Noordwijk, the Netherlands and conversing with their Arizona colleagues over NASA’s Deep Space Network – exercising a 50-second time delay.
The lag will simulate the communication conditions for a small team of human explorers on an asteroid 4.6 million miles distant.
“What we are looking for is the most effective ways to explore, whether it’s an asteroid, the lunar surface, Mars or the Martian moons,” said Joe Kosmo, NASA’s Desert RATS mission manager.
Robonaut 2 mounted to a Centaur vehicle for mobility will also plan a role in NASA's 2011 Desert RATS campaign. Image Credit/NASA Image
Past Desert RATS campaigns have simulated exploratory missions to the moon’s South Pole, or another planetary surface where the astronauts could count on gravity.
The simulations included mobile four person Habitation Demonstration Units and two person Space Exploration Vehicles. Both rolled over the simulated planetary surfaces on wheeled vehicles.
In this year’s simulation there is largely no gravity and in a vitrual sense the “wheels come off.”
Though physically resting atop the vast high altitude Arizona lava flow, the Habitation Demonstration Units will simulate a four person Deep Space Habitat “station keeping” in space a mile or so from the surface of an asteroid.
The lower level of the DSH includes a small lab for the examination for soil samples, an equipment repair bench and a health care facility. The second story of the DSH is an inflatable loft, designed through a NASA competition by student engineers at the Universityof Wisconsin to serve as astronaut sleep stations. The DSH, this year will also include a space hygiene station, where the astronauts can clean up.
The MMSEV, though on wheels will function virtually with small thrusters. In the Desert RATS exercise, the vehicle will transport astronauts between the DSH and the asteroid surface. Near the surface, robot arms connected to the hovering multi mission craft will restrain spacewalking astronauts exploring the surface of the planetary bodies.
Over the course of the 2011 Desert Rat campaign, the NASA-led experts will evaluate which of the exploration aides and techniques is the most effective. Is it more effective, for instance, for the astronauts to coordinate their activities with a Mission Control on Earth? Companions in the DSH? Or the MMSEV?
“What are the combinations of engineering systems we will use? explained Kosmo. “Do we need a space habitat, robotic systems? What surface sampling techniques work best? What is the optimum crew size?”
The 2011 Desert RATS don’t necessarily expect clear answers to their questions. Instead, the exercise is likely to address some issues but raise other questions that future Desert RATS campaigns will tackle.
One added value of the campaign is to provide the agency’s lest experienced engineers, scientists and manager with experience outside their offices and laboratories.
Currently, NASA is aiming for a human asteroid mission by 2025, as a stepping stone to the exploration of the Mars environs a decade or so later.
Meanwhile, the White House and Congress are still debating a strategy for the development of the four-person Orion/Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and the Space Launch System, a heavy lift rocket, to enable the future missions.