![]() The Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS), a crane-based, reduced-gravity system, will allow crews to conduct EVAs in simulated microgravity. ![]() ![]() ![]() Photo credit: NASA The prototype space exploration vehicle will be powered by a self-generating 3 kilowatt fuel cell system, helping to build the case for fuel cells’ viability as a long-term power source in space.Ī virtual reality lab will provide an immersive environment for the extravehicular activity (EVA) crewmembers, integrating real-time graphics with crewmember motions and kinesthetic sensations of large objects – an asteroid in this case. For these tests, the combination of hardware and software systems available in Building 9 have been configured and optimized for simulated missions to a near-Earth asteroid.ĪRGOS can be used to make spacewalkers feel as though they weigh 1/6 of their weight, as they would on the moon, or 1/3, as on Mars. In the past, RATS missions have been conducted in remote desert locations and dubbed “Desert RATS,” but RATS 2012 will be conducted in JSC’s Building 9, the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility.īuilding 9 offers a medley of tools and simulators that would be difficult to transport to a field test location. The 2012 RATS team prepares for mission start in JSC's Building 9, with the prototype second-generation space exploration vehicle on the left and spectators in the overhead "catwalk." Photo credit: NASA This week, NASA’s Research And Technology Studies (RATS) team will convene at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) to begin their 15th mission.
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