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NASA has developed a backpack-sized sensor to help lunar astronauts map their surroundings.
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The sensor will build a 3D map in real time to help them navigate unexplored or dark terrain.
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NASA plans to return humans to the moon for the first time since 1972.
NASA has released images of a backpack-sized sensor that it is developing to help astronauts navigate the terrain on future expeditions to the moon.
The Kinematic Navigation and Cartography Backpack (KNaCK) is designed to help astronauts orbit areas that are unexplored or have very low visibility, such as the moon’s south pole, NASA said in a statement Wednesday.
The animation below shows what a drone landing would look like using this technology.
The drone’s landing can be seen with the help of technology in the KNaCK backpack. At the top right, the map is displayed in a color gradient that shows how close or far an object is to the sensor. The colors in the bottom panel show how fast something is moving on the map. Credits: NASA / Michael Zanetti
KnaCK is based on lidar, a technology that uses light the way a bat uses sound to echo. The sensor pulsates light to map the astronauts’ surroundings in 3D.
The dust raised by the drone is displayed in rainbow colors to show how far it is, and in blue to red rock to show how fast it is moving. NASA / Michael Zanetti / Insider
In an environment like the Moon, there is currently no GPS to help with navigation.
So a real-time mapping tool can help astronauts know how far they’ve come and how far the next object is, said Dr. Michael Zanetti, who leads the KNaCK project in Huntsville, Alabama.
The sensor can be carried around as a small backpack and can be mounted on rovers.
Lead scientist Michael Zanetti tests a prototype backpack-sized prototype for NASA’s KNaCK technology in New Mexico in late 2021. NASA / Michael Zanetti
The system could also help astronauts navigate areas where visibility is very poor, such as the moon’s south pole, where the sun never rises more than three degrees above the horizon, leaving much of the terrain in permanent deep shadow, the statement said.
Back to the moon by 2025?
The last time an astronaut stepped into soil that was not on Earth was almost 50 years ago, when Jean Cernan left the moon on December 19, 1972.
NASA aims to resume manned trips to the moon soon with its series of missions to Artemis, which should include the first visit to its South Pole, according to the statement.
Late last year, the agency shifted the schedule for its first moon landing by 2025, prompting senior officials to worry that China could defeat the United States there, as Insider reported earlier.
The story continues
The cornerstone of the Artemis missions is a type of megarocket called the Space Launch System (SLS).
The first in the series was launched on the launch pad for a series of early tests called “wet dress rehearsal” for the first time last month.
The work platforms were fully housed in the vehicle assembly building, revealing the full size of the SLS, on March 16, 2022. NASA / Glen Benson
This was an important occasion for the rocket, which had been in the making for a decade.
But after tests were delayed due to bad weather and technical problems that revealed a faulty valve, the rocket was removed from the launch pad and back to the assembly building last week.
Lightning struck the launch site of NASA’s new SLS rocket during its wet rehearsal testing at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on April 2, 2022. NASA
Read the original article in Business Insider
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