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NASA and the National Space Grant Foundation selected four university teams to develop advanced and innovative design ideas that will help solve Artemis mission challenges. The selections are part of the 2023-2024 Moon to Mars eXploration Systems and Habitation (M2M X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge sponsored by NASA’s Artemis Campaign Development Division.

The 2023-2024 M2M X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge is an opportunity for NASA to build strategic partnerships with universities and tap into the ingenuity of the future Artemis Generation workforce. The challenge provides STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) students interested in aerospace careers with hands-on development and research experience, while strengthening NASA capability for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Past student participants have gone on to careers in the aerospace industry, including at NASA.

Universities in support of the M2M X-Hab 2023-2024 Academic Innovation Challenge will advance science and technology innovations for Artemis missions with the following projects:

Standardized Habitat Rack Design and Testing
University of Maryland Department of Aerospace Engineering and Space Systems Laboratory (SSL)

In this work students will develop, model, and test innovative concepts for standardized modular stowage and equipment racks in planetary surface habitats under lunar and Mars gravity conditions. This will include a survey of rack and stowage on the International Space Station and any other habitats with available information.  This information will inform the design of one or more modular habitat elements. Issues such as size and mass will be examined via tests of human manipulation in the underwater environment at both lunar and Mars gravity loadings, including rack transfer through simulated docking hatches between berthed pressurized modules. This will lead to the design and prototyping of a standardized modular rack element, which will be used to assess access and portability with both humans and robotic systems.

Design of Payload Racks to Support Future Habitation Platforms and Exploration Missions
University of Michigan Bioastronautics and Life Support Systems (BLiSS)

The project aims to ideate modifications to heritage rack designs and scale them to lunar and Martian habitats. The final deliverables of this project include high-fidelity CAD renderings in the intended environment of the proposed rack design, a system prototype to test both operations and human factors, and a final written report of the design process. The notional concept for our prototype payload rack describes a small-scale system that services a single payload while adapting to habitat architecture, human interfacing, and further scalability to lunar and Martian habitat environments. More in-depth analysis of integration methods will be conducted using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques and formal trade studies in order to maximize the system’s performance and ergonomics.

Crew Mobility Modalities inside Moon/Mars Habitats
Auburn University Mechanical Engineering

Whether they are seen on the side of a stucco wall or crawling up a window, geckos are a ubiquitous companion throughout the human world.  The use of artificial gecko hands and feet for an astronaut or “synthetic setae” is both an attractive solution for Crew Mobility Modalities inside Moon/Mars Habitats and one fraught with complexities; the implementation of these complex geometries is not trivial. The major hurdle is developing adhesive high surface area features that allow for repeated use and resists damage. A deep understanding of the tribological properties of the surfaces and interface, i. e. coefficient of friction, surface roughness, contact mechanics and surface adhesion will be critical to uncovering effective methods for crew mobility.  A potential solution is to develop a smart surface, which can be tuned to change its properties through direct human control. Magnetorheological elastomers, silicone embedded with soft magnetic particles, can be used as the adhering surface of the habitat mobility solution, as small magnetic fields applied to material can cause dramatic changes in material stiffness and surface roughness. This material has the potential to be used as either part of the astronaut’s suit, as part of a target pad on a surface, or as a mobility projectile as it can be molded and 3D printed. Care must be taken in the design of material and geometry to overcome the unique problem associated with extraterrestrial use. Additionally, a liquid operated baffle system could be 3D printed into the design to allow for channels to expand and change the dimensions of the mobility apparatus. Similar devices have been developed with air as the medium.

Image Credit: NASA

What technology is needed to search for life on Mars? 9th-12 grade students can explore and learn about the Curiosity Mars rover in this interactive lesson from NASA & PBS Teachers.

In this interactive activity adapted from NASA, explore the onboard equipment and technologies that will help Curiosity, the latest Mars rover, meet its primary mission goal: to search for evidence of life. To achieve this, Curiosity will employ high-resolution stereoscopic cameras, spectrometers, chromatographs, environmental monitoring sensors, communications antennas, and a radiation detector, all of which you can explore in this activity.

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The Aldrin Family Foundation will host a day-long, free family celebration in support of The People’s Moon project on July 20 in Times Square in honor of the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest achievements of all time – landing a human on the Moon. City, state and national partners have come together to help transform the heart of New York City into Tranquility Base, the Apollo 11 landing site. From fun-filled educational activities to iconic footage from 1969 on the infamous Times Square screens to a giant Apollo photo mosaic, families will have the opportunity to spend nearly 14 hours celebrating this historic milestone.

“On July 20, 1969, the world was united as one, when humans achieved the ‘impossible’ dream of landing and walking on the moon,” said Andrew Aldrin, President of the Aldrin Family Foundation. “Our goal is to recapture that spirit and give thousands the opportunity to put themselves in the place where only 12 men have gone before and to share this historic moment, just like people did 50 years ago. Through this celebration, we hope to inspire today’s generation, give them hope for the future like Apollo did for generations before, and help them realize that their own ‘giant leap’ is right within their grasp.”

Press Release From: Aldrin Family Foundation

More about the event

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NASA’s Giant Leaps: Past and Future – Celebrating Apollo 50th as we Go Forward to the Moon
On July 19, NASA will broadcast live from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the historic, newly-restored Apollo mission control room at Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA will also be at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, with a special guest host. They will look in live on Neil Armstrong’s hometown of Wapakoneta, Ohio, see the Apollo 11 command module on display in Seattle, and see slices of Americana at other anniversary celebrations around the country. They will tell the story of how we got there, and how we’ll get there again, hearing directly from Apollo astronauts alongside current and future astronauts, scientists, engineers, and others sharing some untold stories, quirky facts, and personal reflections about journeying to the lunar surface. Watch it on the NASA Live page.

My name is Daleen M. Torres and I study Mechanical Engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus. NASA has always been one of those places where I never thought I would work. I originally wanted to work in the biomedical industry, but when I visited the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, a tiny spark lit up in me. My best friend who was with me at the time could tell that I was all starry-eyed and amazed when I saw the spacecraft and airplanes. This was where my initial interest for aerospace came.

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Dr. R. Aileen Yingst of the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona, and former Wisconsin Space Grant Director, has been selected by NASA to lead one of 12 new science and technology payloads that will help us study the Moon and explore more of its surface as part of the agency’s Artemis lunar program. These investigations and demonstrations will help the agency send astronauts to the Moon by 2024 as a way to prepare to send humans to Mars for the first time.

Dr. R. Aileen Yingst is the principal investigator of Hemidall, a flexible camera system for conducting lunar science on commercial vehicles. This innovation includes a single digital video recorder and four cameras: a wide-angle descent imager, a narrow-angle regolith imager, and two wide-angle panoramic imagers. This camera system is intended to model the properties of the Moon’s regolith – the soil and other material that makes up the top later of the lunar surface – and characterize and map geologic features, as well characterize potential landing or trafficability hazards, among other goals.

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Calling Citizen Scientists! Participate in the GLOBE Observer Citizen Science Challenge: GO on the Lewis and Clark Trail through September 2, 2019.

This year NASA and the National Park Service encourage the public to follow in these explorers’ footsteps through a new citizen science challenge from June 1 to Sept. 2. Use your smart phone and the NASA GLOBE Observer (GO) app to map land cover along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trailand elsewhere to assist scientists studying environmental changes.

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Colorado Space Grant Consortium students will work with the PUNCH team to design, build, and integrate an x-ray spectrometer that will compliment the overall science mission.  The PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, is a landmark Small Explorers Program mission that will image beyond the Sun’s outer corona.

PUNCH will consist of a constellation of four suitcase-sized microsatellites or “microsats” that will launch as early as 2022. The microsats will orbit the Earth in formation to study how the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona, connects with the interplanetary medium. PUNCH will provide the first global images of how the solar corona infuses the solar wind with mass and energy.

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To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum is placing 15 replica statues of Neil Armstrong’s iconic spacesuit in Major League Baseball stadiums across the U.S. Visit the site and follow @airandspace on Twitter for updates on where and when you can spot a statue. Fans will be able to unlock exclusive digital content when interacting with the suit. Follow along and share your pictures using #SnapTheSuit.

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