Lunar Pits Harbor Comfortable Temperatures

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Say what?! That is very amazing on the comfy temps.

Carnegie Mellon team dives into DARPA subterranean challenge

Modularity will be key to robotic exploration of caves, tunnels, underground structures.

A team from Carnegie Mellon University will compete in the systems track of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Subterranean Challenge, a multi-year robotics competition with a $2 million prize in which robots will autonomously search tunnels, caves and underground structures.

The Carnegie Mellon team, including a key member from Oregon State University, is one of six teams that will receive up to $4.5 million from DARPA to develop the robotic platforms, sensors and software necessary to accomplish these unprecedented underground missions.

As above, so below. Check-out DARPA SubT remote mapping



DARPA seeks compact source for powerful subatomic particles to enable new defense and scientific capabilities

NASA Funds Research for Moon Infrastructure Construction (March 6, 2022)

Researchers from the Colorado School of Mines, Missouri University of Science and Technology and Auburn University will develop construction technology and electronics for long-term colonies on the moon.

To make long-term missions more feasible, researchers led by Gertsch seek to develop electromagnetic and magnetic resource extraction techniques to separate lunar minerals like calcium, aluminum and magnesium needed for manufacturing.

Extreme Electronics

One of the biggest obstacles to space exploration is extreme temperatures that can render various types of technology useless.

“The surface of the moon can reach -415 degrees in specific locations. This is not the best environment for some electronic devices. To keep them warm, one approach is the utilization of heaters, but size and expense create difficulties,” a university spokesman told Government Technology. “To find an alternative to this problem, the proposal is to develop electric devices/components that have the capability of functioning over a wide temperature range, and not rely on warming devices, for future lunar missions.”

Now ponder this R&D project:



RESILIENCE: development of power solutions for increased run-time of electronics used by the IC. Potential UAVs and “leave-behind” electronics that must survive unattended for years under extreme environmental conditions.

Also, there is DOE R&D funding for a nuclear reactor to be housed in a Moon crater or one of those lava tubes.