NASA Desert RATS back in Arizona

NASA’s Desert RATS, or Research and Technology Studies, kicked off their 13th field season in Arizona with a live web cast aimed at students today.



NASA reports that the hardware being demonstrated includes:

• Space Exploration Vehicles – a pair of rovers that astronauts will live in for 7 days at a time
• Habitat Demonstration Unit/Pressurized Excursion Module – a simulated habitat where the rovers can dock to allow the crew room to perform experiments or deal with medical issues
• Tri-ATHLETEs, or -Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer – two heavy-lift rover platforms that allow the habitat, or other large items, to go where the action is
• portable communications terminals
• Centaur 2 – a possible four-wheeled transportation method for NASA Robonaut 2
• Portable Utility Pallets, or PUPs for short – mobile charging stations for equipment
• And a suite of new geology sample collection tools, including a self-contained GeoLab glove box for conducting in-field analysis of various collected rock samples.

Check out the project web page for daily blogs, photostreams, tweets, Facebook, and video - http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/analogs/desert_rats.html.

More news at ASU.