South pole challenge logo.
© Nasa / HeroX
Space missions are dangerous, very dangerous. However, until today no one has died in space – even if the tragic accident of Soyuz 11, which cost the lives of three Russian cosmonauts, began slightly beyond the atmosphere – and the NASA does not expect this to happen during the future and very ambitious Artemis III and IV missions to the lunar South Pole.
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If we take the case of the Apollo program, in particular Apollo 11, no emergency protocol was really possible and all the specialists knew it well: this mission could not tolerate failure. With Armstrong and Aldrin stuck on the Moon, only Collins remaining in the orbiting service module could have returned to Earth. Nixon, the North American president at the time, is said to have given a terrible speech ending with: “Others will follow and will surely find their way home. Man's quest will not be refused. But these men were the first and they will remain the first in our hearts […] Every human being who looks up to the sky in the nights to come will know that there is a corner of another world that will forever be humanity.”
Here is an extract from the document attesting to such a speech.
Excerpt from the speech that Richard Nixon would have had to read in the event of an impossible return of Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong.
© Wikipedia
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NASA obviously wants to avoid this type of drama at all costs. He must therefore think of everything, such as the case of an astronaut who loses consciousness 384,000 km from our blue planet. However, carrying someone who has passed out is not an easy task, even less so in the Axiom suit created in partnership with the luxury brand Prada (yes, yes…). The average weight of an astronaut in this suit is 343 kg on Earth! Certainly, the lunar gravity, which is six times less, brings it down to around 57 kg, but it is still far too much to be moved by a colleague over a long distance.
Axiom/Prada combination named AxEMU.
© Axiom
The United States space agency has therefore launched a challenge, Southern Pole Safety: Designing the NASA Lunar Rescue System, open since November 14 and running until January 23, 2025. It will award $45,000 to at least three proposals, including $20,000 to the sole winner. Here are the terms of the challenge launched by NASA.
Houston, what's the problem?
You must produce a document presenting a system capable of moving astronauts over a distance of 2 km with a slope of 20°, without being attached to a rover because the Artemis III and IV missions will not benefit from it. Of course, your system will have to withstand the extreme conditions of the lunar South Pole, namely temperatures ranging from +55°C during the day to -200°C at night (hello temperature fluctuations for electronics), without forgetting the pernicious lunar regolith with these micrometer-sized particles that insinuate themselves everywhere.
You can propose your project here. If you are ever selected, tell us in the comments, we would be so proud if one of our readers' construction went to the Moon!
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