NASA’s Desert Rats
A NASA program, called “Desert Rats” or Desert Research and Technology Studies, consists of 150 scientists and engineers. A part of the agency’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, the ten-year-old program involves groups from several NASA centers and universities.
In September, before the mornings cool off and after the summer rain slows down, a group of the “Rats” spend two weeks on the desert, near Flagstaff Arizona. They test technologies that will play an important role in the future of Space exploration. With a variety of desert terrains, new or improved equipment that astronauts may use on the surface of the moon is tested. Projects being tested range from computer hardware and software to spacesuits, rovers and astronaut habitats.
Each year, three teams from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida head west including the surface physics group, the cryogenics surface systems team and the communications/networking group. Out on the desert for the last six years, Marc Seibert is a communication/networking engineer from Kennedy. He is part of the KSC Telescience Laboratory which is responsible for video, voice data and network security for the desert test site each year. “Our role in Desert Rats is to make sure everything can communicate and make sure people back in the mission control building at Johnson Space Center can connect and interact with the test site, “Seibert explained.
Several goals were achieved including a fourth-generation digital signal processor and audio system that cleans up the quality of the audio from spacesuit helmets. In addition, there is a large semi-trailer that is part habitat simulator and part control center from the Kennedy communications/networking group. Located in the rear of the trailer is a spacesuit that allows crew members to practice suiting up and existing in a lunar habitat.
Near Flagstaff is a location called Meteor Crater where soil has similar properties to lunar dust so this yearly desert trip is an excellent chance to test the dust-tolerant technology. Lunar dust is clingy and as sharp as crushed glass. It can tear up the seals on ordinary quick-disconnects, causing leaks. The annual outing provided a perfect time to test the dust-tolerant technology. Life on the moon would be easier if surfaces could repel clingy lunar dust. The electrostatics and surface physics laboratory showed that it can be accomplished. The annual trip to the desert happens because of the cooperation, interactivity and rehearsals between the Desert Rats teams at various NASA centers and universities throughout the year.
This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 7:23 pm and is filed under Space Agency News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
