D-RATS astronauts test lunar technology in the desert

A team consisting of people from NASA and JAXA is currently in an Arizona desert carrying out tests of technology that could one day lead to a trip to the moon.

The work of NASA's Desert Research and Technology Studies is becoming more important as the space agency prepares to launch a new era of lunar exploration through its Artemis program.

NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Stan Love are members of D-RATS.

The D-RATS will be located at Black Point Lava Flow, 40 miles from Flagstaff, Arizona. The location will allow teams to recreate the conditions astronauts will experience near the lunar South Pole during Artemis missions.

The day in the life desert missions will include testing of JAXA's pressurized rover. The astronauts will live and work inside the vehicle for 72 hours at a time to see if they can handle the lunar conditions.

According to NASA, the Desert RATS crews will carefully rove the desert, exiting the vehicle in their mock space suits when they come across scientifically intriguing regions to explore. At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, a Mission Control team will track crew movement and activities, help them stay on schedule, and fix any problems if they occur.

Engineers will be able to discover ways to design, build, and operate better equipment, as well as establish requirements for operations and procedures essential to any crewed lunar mission.

The first launch of NASA's next- generation Space Launch System rocket should take place next month. The Artemis I mission has suffered several delays due to technical issues, but when it finally gets underway it will send an uncrewed capsule on a fly-by of the moon as part of a test flight.

Artemis II will send a crew on the same journey if it succeeds, while Artemis III will attempt to put a woman on the moon. The first crewed mission to Mars could be in the late 2030s if NASA and its partners build a permanent moon base following that.

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