What does NASA need to send astronauts to the moon and Mars?

Cape CanaveralSpace engineer Pablo de Leon designed two models of the Moon and Mars, realizing the time it needed to develop. He believes that the US space agency should speed up its preparations if it wants to send astronauts to the moon in 2024.

"NASA does not have the uniforms yet, because the decision to go to the moon in 2024 seems to have been made," says the Argentine engineer, a NASA-funded laboratory manager and dedicated to manned flights to the University of North Dakota.

"On the one hand, the order to go to the moon is scheduled for 2024 and, on the other hand, no space uniform has been developed since 1977", a- he told AFP during a recent visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The uniforms used by the Americans at the International Space Station (ISS) were designed for spacewalk in the 1970s and have been under repair ever since. Only a handful remains to be used.

NASA is focused on the development of the rocket, the vehicle and the probe that will land on the moon to transport astronauts. The choice of uniforms comes later.

But Argentina's current budget of $ 21 billion a year is not enough to speed up the work, said the Argentine engineer. He considers the goal of 2024 as "somewhat optimistic".

Dust is dangerous

In his laboratory, Pablo de Leon and his teams developed the "NX-1" for Mars and the "DX-2" for the moon.

"It is as complex as a spacecraft," he said, "It should provide the environment with heat, pressure, humidity, radiation protection, communication and energy." uniform must have all these specifications. "

Two types of uniforms, designed for travel in the space, should be provided for the repair of external dysfunction and for a walk in a different world.

In case of lack of gravity, the garment is almost rigid above the waist and Pablo de Loen confirms that "the feet are of no benefit".

But on the Moon and Mars, pioneers are supposed to walk and their uniforms must be light and flexible enough to move, jump, bend and use tools.

Lunar dust is another important problem.

The Apollo astronauts quickly realized that this dust was very sharp. The upper layers of the garment are entered and cut like glbad. "The clothes are torn in three days," says the expert. The longest mission on Apollo on the Moon lasted 75 hours, but the pioneers were not outside the capsule all the time.

On the ground, Pablo de Leon said that the erosion phenomenon "has contributed to the rotation of stones, sand and dust in millions of years", but the Moon does not testify to the phenomenon erosion. "Even the very small mbades are very sharp and cut the fabric in the manner of a saw.

On Mars, where Americans hope to send a mission in the 1930s, the soil will be the toxic perchlorate of humans.

"Everything that has been in contact with the outside must be isolated once the pioneers have removed their uniforms," ​​he said. Mars housing should be designed with these decontamination units.

At present, the Pablo de Leon center and other centers in the United States are waiting for information from NASA, which has yet concluded any contract on uniforms. No deadline has yet been set for this purpose.