NASA Fills 2022 With Lunar, Mars-Related Missions

NASA undertook several projects in 2022 outside of the Artemis missions, including programs that could support efforts to return to the moon and Mars. Among such initiatives are the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment and the Cold Operable Lunar Deployable Arm, Nextgov reported.

CAPSTONE is meant to chart a lunar orbit and demonstrate new technologies for future space operations. In November, it entered its target position around the moon, where it is planned to stay over a six-month period and collect data for programs such as the Gateway space station.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing COLDArm, a robotic limb for lunar landers intended to perform various tasks at low temperatures. Motiv Space Systems designed and assembled portions of the arm.

NASA recently concluded that its Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport Mars lander lost power due to accumulated dust on its solar panels that prevented its batteries from charging. The vehicle was used to gather weather and interior data meant to inform future manned missions.

Skypersonic recently delivered to NASA a Mars rover and drone system intended to operate independently of GPS systems. The technology is planned to be used for a Martian environment simulation project.