Distress Monitoring and Tracking for Future Lunar Exploration.
Room: N132, Bldg: Engineering North, University of Adelaide, Engineering North Bldg, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, 5000Artemis exploration at the Lunar South Pole presents unique terrain challenges and a key element of safe exploration is the provision of a cislunar and lunar surface distress tracking/notification system. NASA has a requirement to safely abort lunar surface operations, including extravehicular activity (EVA), and execute all operations required for a safe return to Earth. This includes the initial location determination of injured crew members, similar to international Personnel Recovery (PR) policy. An Australian research study conducted in cooperation with the Lunar Search and Rescue (LunaSAR) team at the Goddard Space Flight Centre aims to develop an international, community-wide distress notification and tracking beacon system architecture for lunar surface users engaged in exploration in the Lunar South Pole and other areas. LunaSAR's goal is the provision of persistent, reliable, and accurate distress location and notification services to lunar surface users and human-tended surface mobility elements. An overview of LunaSAR, the study and experimental results will be presented, including plans for next year’s field trial with NASA. Applications on Earth for safety of personnel in hazardous situations includes emergency services for floods, bush fires and generally serious unplanned incidents will be discussed. Speaker(s): Mark Room: N132, Bldg: Engineering North, University of Adelaide, Engineering North Bldg, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, 5000