Post the series of astounding revelations regarding the Cassini mission, NASA has recently published some crucial things about the ‘measures to be taken while watching Solar Eclipse’. Following the study of the Eclipse through the jet planes, this much admired International Space Agency is now all set up for its first prototype of NASA’s deep space habitat.

According to the sources, it is made up of a recycled aluminum cargo container and will help the space agency to develop life-support systems that can protect astronauts when they travel beyond low-Earth orbits, the media reported. And, the cargo space container, named Donatello built 15 years ago, will be refurbished into a habitat prototype by Lockheed Martin, a global security, and aerospace company at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

Providing critical communications, life support and autonomous navigation are the primary objectives of the mission. NASA recently awarded Lockheed Martin a Phase II contract for the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships habitat study respectively.

The team will continue to refine the design in Phase II on the concept developed in Phase I and work with NASA to identify key system requirements for the Deep Space Gateway, a full-scale habitat prototype in the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and a next-generation deep space avionics integration lab near Johnson Space Center will be built.

Bill Pratt, Lockheed Martin NextSTEP program manager has said,”It is easy to take things for granted when you are living at home, but the recently selected astronauts will face unique challenges.

“Something as simple as calling your family is completely different when you are outside of low Earth orbit. While building this habitat, we have to operate in a different mindset that’s more akin to long trips to Mars to ensure we keep them safe, healthy and productive,” he added.

Refurbishing the Donatello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), a full-scale prototype of the deep space habitat will be built, Donatello was one of three large modules, flown in the space shuttle payload bay, that was used to transfer cargo to the ISS.

Talking about the issues of affordability and the project, Pratt said:

“We are excited to work with NASA to repurpose a historic piece of flight hardware, originally designed for low Earth orbit exploration, to play a role in the humanities push into deep space. Making use of existing capabilities will be a guiding philosophy for Lockheed Martin to minimize development time and meet NASA’s affordability goals.”

Sources stated that the work will occur over 18 months and will build upon the concept study performed in Phase I. Following that, Phase II will also focus on mixed reality and rapid prototyping, and be working on concept refinement and risk reduction factors.

On the whole, the results in this mega project will assist in understanding the systems, standards and common interfaces needed to make living in deep space.

Related Article: NASA Officially Announced The Safety Tips To View Solar Eclipse