NASA's Space Shuttle Module To Be Recycled
A space shuttle cargo container once used to transfer equipment and supplies to International Space Station will be converted into a prototype for deep space habitat.
The refurbishing of the container known as Donatello multi-purpose logistic module (MLPM) is being carried out under a public-private partnership between NASA and Lockheed Martin, a global security and aerospace company.
The aim of the project is to develop life-support systems that can protect astronauts when they travel beyond low-Earth orbits.
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Lockheed Martin has termed the habitat concept Deep Space Gateway.
"While building this habitat, we have to operate in a different mindset that's more akin to long trips to Mars to ensure we keep them safe, healthy and productive," Bill Pratt, Lockheed Martin's program manager for the habitat contract, said in a statement.
The statement said the company was awarded a Phase II contract for Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) habitat study contract. NextSTEP is a public-private partnership model developed by NASA, which aims at commercially developing deep space exploration capabilities to support extensive human spaceflight missions beyond cislunar space—the space near Earth that extends just beyond the moon.
The company said its team would refine the concepts it developed in Phase I of the contract and will build a “full-scale habitat prototype in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center” under Phase II.
The work will take more than 18 months to be completed, and will focus on concept refinement and risk reduction. The results will help NASA in understanding the systems, standards and common interfaces that are needed to make living possible in deep space.
The team will use a mix of virtual and augmented reality to test the technology that will help in keeping astronauts safe. The Deep Space Gateway will receive crews from NASA’s Orion spacecraft also in development with Lockheed Martin. Orion aircraft is a multi-purpose crew vehicle that can carry four astronauts to destinations at or beyond low Earth orbit.
Using recycled parts will reduce the cost of the prototype, and speed up development. “Making use of existing capabilities will be a guiding philosophy for Lockheed Martin to minimize development time and meet NASA’s affordability goals,” Pratt said.
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Under the project, Lockheed Martin will also come up with a Deep Space Avionics Integration Laboratory in Houston. The lab will demonstrate command and control between the Deep Space Gateway and Orion. The company said the lab will “reduce risk associated with critical data interfaces between Deep Space Gateway elements and provide an environment for astronauts to train for various mission scenarios.”
"Because the Deep Space Gateway would be uninhabited for several months at a time, it has to be rugged, reliable and have the robotic capabilities to operate autonomously. Essentially it is a robotic spacecraft that is well-suited for humans when Orion is present," said Pratt. "Lockheed Martin's experience building autonomous planetary spacecraft plays a large role in making that possible."
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