NASA wants ideas on how to haul injured moonwalkers

How do you rescue an injured crew member on the lunar surface? NASA is looking for ideas, and a share of a $45,000 prize pot is up for grabs. The problem has vexed the US space agency for some time. Though Apollo featured the Buddy Secondary Life Support System (BSLSS) that allowed crew members to share cooling water in the …

[Alan J. Wylie]

Lyon equipment make just the thing (image)

web site

[Number6]

I've seen something like that in use at Bryce Canyon in Utah, hauling people up out of the canyon. Eight local volunteers, from the fire department and other locals, come down with it, strap the casualty to it and then wheel them back up the narrow path. It's at 9000ft, so I suspect they get plenty of practice with all the visiting sea-level dwellers.

[Korev]

Sounds like hard work, when a friend broke himself in the Alps a few weeks ago we just called a helicopter, maybe NASA could do the same...

[JimBz]

Works on Mars. The Moon atmosphere is thinner, but it's there. My back of envelope calculation says rotors 15 km long.

[The Man Who Fell To Earth]

1/6th gravity

Remember, the gravity of 1/6th that of earth.

I am kind of surprised they think a wheeled system is the safest option. Given the requirements, I'd have through a system that took advantage of the low gravity to use skids would be more compact & reliable/dust-resistant.

[tony72]

In lunar gravity, couldn't you just drag the bugger on an inflatable Kevlar sled or something? I guess you would also need a bottle of compressed nitrogen to inflate it. Sorted. So, how big a share of the $45000 do I get?

[Kimo]

Just toss 'em.

[Dizzy Dwarf]

Trebuchet. The gravity is low; they'll fly for miles.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

I was thinking of an inflatable version of Musk's Pedo Submarine.

[Henry Hallan]

Giant Steps Are What You Take?

An astronaut who weighs 120kg (with suit) on Earth weighs 20kg on the Moon. Can't their colleagues just pick them up and carry them?

[lnLog]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

if there is three in a group, then a telescopic pole between the two and a strap to carry the third, bump up their suit pressure so they dont sag

[Paul Herber]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

'sag'

aloo or bhaji?

[MyffyW]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

Maybe Saag is the answer..

I'm strong to the finish, 'cos I eat my spinach

[Boris the Cockroach]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

What? held under the dorsal feathers?

[TRT]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

It's a chicken sag?

[MachDiamond]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

"Can't their colleagues just pick them up and carry them?"

If there are more than one colleague available, maybe. With a suit on, your center of gravity is much higher than you are used to which is why the Apollo astronauts looked like drunken sailors. It's not like you could toss somebody over your shoulder in a "fireman's" carry.

[CowHorseFrog]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

Have you seen how bulky space suites and particularly their gloves are ?

I highlighly doubt they would be able to even pick and grip a human adult leg let alone attempt to carry or walk them anywhere.

[Korev]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

> Have you seen how bulky space suites and particularly their gloves are ?

Space suites? Those Lunar modules were tiny...

[CowHorseFrog]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

tiny ?

Do they wear g-strings ?

[gillburt]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

Bathroom suite or living room suite? Bidet? Futon? I didn’t think DFS delivered more than 20m from the kerbside.

[Phil O'Sophical]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

I highlighly doubt they would be able to even pick and grip a human adult leg let alone attempt to carry or walk them anywhere.

Typical NASA, they spend millions on a special recovery system, the ̶R̶u̶s̶s̶i̶a̶n̶s̶ Chinese just put a handle on the back of each space suit...

[CowHorseFrog]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

Impossible as the standard hatch in use by all nations is quite small, and increasing its diameter would require soo much change the cost would be enormous not too mention all tooling and stock would require changes.

[Marty McFly]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

I hope The Police don't Sting you for that comment title.

Just dated myself a bit there, didn't I!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Giant Steps Are What You Take?

Came to the comments to post the same solution. This seems really obvious.

[Neil Barnes]

The traditional boy scout method

Would involve their walking staffs threaded through their inside out jackets to make a stretcher.

But probably the other astronauts won't want to take their jackets off, so something with four large wheels - like a bicycle - and an expandable frame would seem to fit the bill. Like a pram... Or indeed, fewer wheels, per Alan Wilie's example above.

[Kimo]

Re: The traditional boy scout method

I was wondering if they could just sew a channel in the legs and sides of the suit to thread a pole through.

[werdsmith]

Re: The traditional boy scout method

And have an adaptation in the gloves or on the suit to hold the poles.

[TRT]

Re: The traditional boy scout method

Velcro.

[CowHorseFrog]

Re: The traditional boy scout method

How exactly are they going to grip too remove the velcro so each person can fit thru the hatch to return back inside ?

You didnt solve any problem and just created more.

[OllieJones]

Travois

Native Americans used a thing dubbed a "travois" by French colonists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travois

Poles that drag on the surface at one end, with a way to carry a load between them.

Sturdy telescoping poles might be useful for other things on the lunar surface too.

[Anonymous Coward]

£35.515.76

Is that all? Don't give much of a shit do they!

[Korev]

Re: £35.515.76

Pretty much the cost of saying hello to the receptionist in an American hospital...

[CowHorseFrog]

Re: £35.515.76

Who cares about th 35k pounds, it costs tens of millions to have an astronaut in space each day and for what ?

No company is sending their own astronauts into space, because why would they want to spend billions for a person too just sit around and maybe pick up two rocks and call that a major accomplishment.

[Kimo]

Check Lowes

I have a pretty sturdy handtruck that should do the trip.

[Tessier-Ashpool]

Jet Pack

We all need one.

[Paul Herber]

Re: Jet Pack

Lunahelicopter.

[JamesTGrant]

Make the spaces suits out of Velcro - thick strips of the 3M industrial grip stuff alternating hook and loop. Colleague injured? Lay on them to pick em up and then romp on back to base. £35k to me please!

[CowHorseFrog]

Is this a joke ?

Have you tried to use 3M hooks to hang things ? They struggle to hold anything under a kg, your dreaming if you think they can hold 20kg the human weight on the moon.

[JamesTGrant]

Yes. It is.

[Number6]

I assume a self-assembly trebuchet wouldn't meet the spec?

[MyffyW]

It could have the parallel use of trying to use it to accelerate a sheep to it's maximum in vacu velocity. So useful science, whichever way you look at it.

[collinsl]

Yes but you'd also have to come up with some clever container to make it spherical

[Jimmy2Cows]

Make it spherical

Just stuff the sheep in a zorb? They weigh practically nothing, so easy to bring to the moon. Inflate with a CO2 canister (can the suit scrubbers fill/refill one?) et voila, one spherical sheep.

[Blackjack]

Make them easy to cut into smalll pieces and out then into a box?

[wolfetone]

For £20k, I propose you just shout "BUFFET'S OPEN".

That moves everything, including the dead.

[I ain't Spartacus]

And then, the hungry Clangers appeared. Drool slipping down their bloodied chins, knives clutched in paws ready to feast at last on human flesh!

[Killing Time]

Well that's ruined a cherished memory!

Suppose anything is better than nothing but green soup and string pudding....

[CowHorseFrog]

Have you actually looked at what passes for food in space ?

Its ALL the most processed bland food. Food doesnt taste or smell well after a few days, let alone months or years in space, even if packaged to perfection.

[wolfetone]

Exactly.

So if you shout buffet you'll immediately think there's a table of cocktail sausages and quiche.

[I ain't Spartacus]

In space no-one can hear you strawberries and cream.

[CowHorseFrog]

One would hope you would not be sending stupid people who believe that there woul dbe a buffet available in space.

[Jimmy2Cows]

Re: just shout "BUFFET'S OPEN".

FREE BAR! if you really want to see sparks off people's feet.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Self Assemby Sedan Chair from IKEA

As long as the others figure out the instructions

[I ain't Spartacus]

I was thinking a tandem pogo stick, with oxygen tent and straps for the injured astronaut. We could call it the real Spacehopper.

[MachDiamond]

Multi-purpose

I would think that some sort of barrow would be very useful on/in the moon. If the astronauts were out collecting rocks, they could dump them and put the stricken person on the barrow and haul them back to base. A. Wylie's link is a good stab, but I think two wheels would be better as dumping an injured person off by accident would be a problem. It would also be easier for the barrow/cart to stand by itself while being used for its primary purpose of hauling things around. Having a connection so it could be hauled behind a rover wouldn't go amiss either, but wouldn't be required.

I don't see something like this being more than a Saturday project even with lots of ale being passed around. I can see it in my head, but I'd not rush out to build a prototype on spec as it is too easy and plenty of people would work it out so the chances of getting the money is lottery odds. 23kg? I could get it under 10kg. The cost of shipping is so dominant that using exotic materials isn't an issue.

[John Robson]

Re: Multi-purpose

It's not as if they don't already have designs for tyres that are known to work on the moon.

A fully enclosed hub motor could help in terms of energy conservation for the "ok" astronaut - but at the cost of additional mass to carry around. If, as you suggest, it pulls double duty as a regular transport then that might not matter as much.

[CowHorseFrog]

Simple answer, its free and saves trillions.

Dont goto the Moon.

[ecofeco]

I'm confused

Have carts already been forgotten in this post fact age?

[Ken Shabby]

Re: I'm confused

Bring out yer dead, type cart, in Kevlar brushed aluminium and funky race bike wheels.

[CowHorseFrog]

Re: I'm confused

The moon is covered in thick dust and rockets...

Have you tried to push a cart with some weight wearing a suit similar to an astronaut across earth ?

Its not easy...

[Anonymous Coward]

so

so musktwats going to rig it with orangeturd so his minisub will win the bid

[Bebu sa Ware]

Bulk is probably as important as mass.

Foldout structures in lightweight materials would be on the list.

Reminded by the article on the old Amateur (Ham) satellite of the rollout steel tape measure antennae used by the Oscar 5 satellite I was thinking a travois assembled by rolling out two tapes from a disc shaped cannister which spring into a tubular form with the cannister(s) reused as wheel(s.)

Still a plain old gardener's wheelbarrow from the local garden centre would have to be favourite - the metal is usually so thin that it wouldn't weigh much.