We all fall sometimes. Astronauts are no exception. Space travel requires you to be in peak physical condition, but heavy space suits and low gravity levels can lead to disaster if traveling on their own.
The answer to this specific issue may be robotic limbs. They won’t stop a fall completely, but they can help astronauts get back on their feet.
engineer at mit have developed an exoskeleton Designed to give astronauts more support and help them recover after stumbling in the Moon’s low gravity. The “superlimbs” are built into a backpack that contains the astronaut’s life support systems as well as the motors that power them.
The system, which is still in the prototype stage, reacts directly to the wearer’s feedback. When sitting or lying down, it provides an anatomical support to help them get back up while expending less energy – every extra bit helps in positions like this.
“During the Apollo era, when astronauts fell, 80% of the time it was when they were digging or doing something with a tool,” says MIT doctoral student Eric Ballesteros. “The Artemis mission will really focus on construction and excavation, so the risk of falls is very high. We think Supralimbs can help them recover so they can be more productive, and extend their EVA.
Artemis is an ongoing Moon exploration program scheduled to begin in 2025. The next mission is scheduled to launch in September 2025, with plans to establish a lunar base in the future.
The system is adapted from an earlier prototype developed several years ago for terrestrial workers. In the intervening years, exosuits have become an increasingly popular way to help protect people engaged in construction and other physical labor from unnecessary injury. The team behind the project began adapting the work after talks with NASA.
“In communication with NASA, we realized that this issue of falling on the Moon is a serious risk,” says Harry Asada, a mechanical engineering professor at MIT. “We realized that we could make some modifications to our design to help the astronauts recover from the fall and continue their work.”
Adopting the system means studying the ways in which people recover from falls. According to researchers, about 80% of us do just that. Ultimately, the team landed on a control system that powers a pair of robotic arms that emerge from a backpack to assist the astronaut.
They will begin testing the system at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the summer.
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