NASA unveils lunar equipment at Moses Lake Sand Dunes

Equipment testing to conclude Friday

MOSES LAKE - NASA engineers unveiled lunar equipment for area media on Tuesday that was tested for the past two weeks at the Moses Lake Sand Dunes.

The displayed equipment included two science rovers intended to move across the moon's surface, mobile habitats for astronauts' living quarters and a crane designed to move equipment.

NASA is preparing to send astronauts to the moon by 2020 to build a lunar outpost and chose Moses Lake for testing because of the room it offered, NASA robotics engineer Lucien Junkin said.

The sandy surface in Grant County is somewhat like the lunar surface, he said.

But the grand finale of the day seemed to be when two people in astronaut clothing were brought out of a large van. The astronauts lumbered over to the one-ton prototype Chariot and climbed atop the roofless vehicle.

As the Chariot drove around the sand dunes, photographers and members of the public snapped photos during the rare opportunity to see the technology up close.

Bill Bluethmann of NASA said the organization is looking at some scenarios of what it wants to do on the moon.

During NASA's work at the sand dunes, NASA drove the test vehicles locally and remotely from Houston, he said. He added that NASA wants to grow the technology it brought it Moses Lake.

Brian Wilcox with California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory answered questions about mobile pod-shaped habitats that were on display. A full-scale habitat holds about four astronauts, he said.

Wilcox described the habitat as a hollow graphite composite shell with a flat aluminum honeycomb floor. The habitats also have tool adapters, he said.

Wilcox mentioned that 10 places on the moon were considered high priority to visit in NASA's Exploration Systems Architecture Study, some because of scientific purposes.

Last week, partners met with NASA to discuss commercial exploration of the moon, Wilcox said. Platinum is very valuable and abundant on the moon.

Another substance, Helium 3, is also found there, he said.

"There's undoubtedly other things we don't know about," Wilcox said.

Bill Doggett with NASA Langley Research Center is part of a crew working on a crane that moves equipment for the lunar outpost.

The crane is sized for metric tons and can move habitat modules, landers and any other lunar outpost equipment.

John Dorsey with NASA Langley Research Center said the crane can be redesigned to handle heavier loads and longer loads. He expects the crane will be reused for other work, he said.

Junkin answered questions about the prototype Chariot, which received new tires that float over the sand upon the advice of a local farmer. An off-road-vehicle tire was used previously for Chariot.

Testing in Moses Lake does an enormous amount of good for the NASA team because it can learn how dusty it can be on the moon, he said.

Junkin said if NASA was able to stay in Moses Lake for a year, the equipment's sealing technology would improve.

He called the terrain challenging, but added the time spent in Moses Lake had been great.

"The people have been absolutely, positively wonderful," he said.

NASA plans to take home a small portion of Moses Lake by packing about 10 containers of ash-mixed soil from the Moses Lake Sand Dunes.

Astronauts who served during the 1969 Apollo mission to the moon will stand on the Moses Lake soil.

Then NASA will "see what their subjective comments are," Junkin said.