<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">The next time NASA goes to the Moon, it intends to stay. Under the Artemis program, the US space agency plans to maintain a human presence, for the very first time, on a celestial body other than Earth.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But building a lunar base is no small feat. It will need power generators, vehicles and habitats, and the space industry is racing to meet the technological challenges.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's the Super Bowl of engineering," Neal Davis, lead systems engineer for the Lunar Terrain Vehicle at space company Dynetics, told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dynetics revealed its prototype design for a Moon rover last month at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But it probably won't be until later Artemis missions -- 7 onwards -- "where we're starting to look at adding permanent habitations on the surface," said NASA associate administrator Jim Free.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Artemis 3, the first planned landing, won't happen until later this decade, so habitat building wouldn't start before the 2030s.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The base would likely comprise multiple sites, he added, to diversify the targets of scientific exploration and to offer more flexibility for the landings.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Power and communications -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite this distant timeline, companies are already chomping at the bit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Step zero is communications," Joe Landon, CEO of Crescent Space, a new subsidiary of Lockheed Martin dedicated to lunar services, told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Think about when you move into a new apartment, you've got to hook up your phone and your internet first."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Starting out with a pair of satellites, the company wants to become the Moon's internet and GPS provider.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This would relieve the strain on NASA's Deep Space Network, which threatens to overheat in the face of all the upcoming missions, including private ones.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Landon estimates the value of the lunar market will be "$100 billion over the next 10 years."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Next up: switching on the lights.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Astrobotic, with 220 employees, is one of three companies selected by NASA to develop solar panels.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They need to be placed vertically because at the Moon's south pole -- the intended destination because it has water in the form of ice -- the Sun barely peeps above the horizon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">About 60 feet (18 meters) high, the Astrobotic panels will be connected by cables running several miles (kilometers), said Mike Provenzano, the company's director of lunar surface systems.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The solar arrays will be fixed to vehicles that can run them out to different locations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Vehicles -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For its scientific expeditions, NASA has tasked industry with developing an unpressurized -- that is to say, open top -- rover for two people, ready by 2028.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Unlike the Apollo missions' rovers, it will also have to operate autonomously for outings without an astronaut.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This means surviving frigid lunar nights, which can last two weeks, with temperatures dropping to around -280 degrees Fahrenheit (-170 Celsius).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many companies have made a start.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lockheed Martin has partnered with General Motors, leaning on the auto giant's expertise in electric and off-road vehicles.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dynetics, a subsidiary of engineering behemoth Leidos, has joined forces with Nascar.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Its prototype, which will achieve a top speed of nine miles per hour (15 kilometers per hour), includes a robotic arm and metal wheels that are braided like textiles to maximize traction on the sandy surface and deal with any rocks they encounter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"But at the same time, they actually have a lot of openings to the outside so that they don't collect that sand and carry it with us," Davis said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moon dust, or regolith, poses a major challenge because, lacking erosion by water or wind, it is almost as abrasive as glass.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">NASA has yet to announce the selected company or companies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the longer term, NASA is working with the Japanese space agency JAXA on a pressurized vehicle, in which astronauts won't need to keep their suits on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Habitats -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally, the crew will need a place to hang up their helmets and call home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">NASA has awarded a $57.2 million contract to the Texas-based company Icon, which specializes in 3D printing, to develop the technology needed to build roads, landing strips on the Moon, and ultimately, dwellings.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The idea is to use lunar soil as a material. Other companies, such as Lockheed Martin, are developing inflatable habitat concepts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The beautiful thing is you can land it on the moon and inflate it and now there's a much larger volume for the crew to live in and work in," Kirk Shireman, vice president for the Lockheed Martin Lunar Exploration Campaign, told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Inside would be bedrooms, a kitchen, a space for scientific instruments, etc. -- all mounted on a frame, so the habitat can be mobile.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The basic concept behind returning to the Moon under Artemis is to help NASA prepare for much more distant missions to Mars.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Whatever money we have to spend to go develop these systems on the moon, we want those same systems to be applicable to go to Mars," said Shireman. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>