Future Luna Bases Might Walk to Their Next Location

Shaun Saunders came across a very neat article in space.com. A robotic Luna base with legs no less. called the ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer) the robot or robotic mobile platform could play an essential role in new lunar bases. The platform would have new habitats mounted to it and it would quite literally walk (or roll, should the terrain -is that the right word for the moon? lol - be flat enough) to where the habitat is to be set up. Athlete can be controlled by the astronauts themselves, mission control and it is likely that autonomous functions would be incorporated.

Of course to implement Athlete one major obstical needs to be addressed. That of the mindset of NASA which has always in the past favored fixed position habitats. So even though the prototypes are being tested, the major break-though is going to have to be in the minds of people who set the missions up. Also as Shaun points out, the downside of solar radiation has to be addressed as well.

Inflatable Habitats for Polar and Space Colonists

One of the largest obsticales to establishing stations or colonies on Mars, the Moon or even in space has been transporting the structures that people would live in. Recent experiments with inflatable structures in space have shown proof of concept, showing non-ridged construction to be extremely promising.

At the article Inflatable Habitats
researchers make a convincing argument for lightweight inflatable construction. These structures would not only be easy to transport and set up, they also lend themselves well to gathering their own power and heat. Click on the link for more info

posted by Shaun A. Saunders