Here’s NASA’s KNaCK Backpack That’ll Keep Astronauts Alive on the Moon

While you can bring a bottle of water and a few granola bars for your next hike, astronauts walking across the moon need to little prepare more. That’s why NASA has developed a new high-tech backpack for future lunar explorers.

The Kinematic Navigation and Cartography Knapsack (KNaCK) is equipped with a portable scanner that can create a 3D map of the terrain around the wearer. Using the same technology that helps smart cars avoid crashing, the backpack will provide astronauts with a high-resolution map of their surroundings and possibly provide them with navigation systems. real-time location — something that would be very useful in a real alien world.

“Essentially, the sensor is a surveying tool for both navigation and scientific mapping, able to create extremely high resolution 3D maps with centimeter accuracy and provide them with a scientific context. rich science,” said Michale Zanetti, a planetary scientist leading the KNaCK project at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, in an agency press release.

NASA / Michael Zanetti

Think of it like Google Maps on steroids. The backpack not only allows astronauts to chart their routes in real time, it also identifies distant landmarks while ensuring “the safety of the astronauts and their vehicles.” in GPS-rejected environments like the moon,” says Zanetti. This is especially important for astronauts, who have a limited supply of oxygen in their suits.

KNaCK will also provide researchers with deeper insights into the geology of the Moon’s surface by mapping the topography and elevation of the terrain. NASA researchers hope that the backpack will reveal some undiscovered discoveries about the moon.

“As humans, we tend to orient ourselves based on landmarks – a particular building, a grove of trees. Those things don’t exist on the moon,” said Zanetti. “KNaCK will continuously allow surface explorers to determine their movements, direction and orientation to distant peaks or to their base of operations. They can even mark specific locations where they found certain minerals or unique rocks, so others can easily return to do more research.”