by Technology that was used to protect the first astronauts to land on the moon is now on its way back to the lunar surface – and some of it may already be hanging in your coat hanger.
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander “Odysseus” (“Odie” for short) will attempt to become the first US-built commercial spacecraft to land on the moon when it attempts a landing near the moon’s south pole on February 22. The robotic probe, which took off from Earth on Thursday (February 15), will rely on its cryogenic propellant supply to power its descent to the surface. Protecting the drive tank from the extreme temperatures of outer space is an insulation based on what was first used by NASA’s Apollo missions more than 50 years ago but has since been improved upon by Columbia Sportswear.
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“They took the Kapton shield from Apollo and turned into the reflective discs in their jackets,” said Peter McGrath, chief operating officer at Intuitive Machines, in an interview with collectSPACE.com.
From the polyamide thermal blankets used to cover the Apollo lunar modules, it was the same lining as gold dots in Columbia jackets and other clothing.
“We immediately realized this was a partnership that seemed to make sense,” said Haskell Beckham, vice president of innovation at Columbia Sportswear. “When they described what they were doing and I described to them what we already have for reflective thermal insulation, we realized that our material could really benefit their lunar lander .”
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C is one of several new US robotic landers that exist or are in development as a result of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Rather than building its own lander, which would take longer as a government project and cost more, the space agency has turned to companies to land their scientific instruments on the moon while also flying payloads. commercial to make the mission profitable.
One such example is Columbia Sportswear’s partnership on IM-1, the first flight of the Nova-C, which is landing at Malapert A, a crater located approximately 186 miles (300 kilometers) from the moon’s south pole. Intuitive Machines used Columbia’s Omni-Heat Infinity heat-reflective technology to cover the closed A2 panel shielding the lander’s cryogenic propulsion tank.
“The material we use and have used for over ten years in our jackets is very similar to what is used in the MLI at the moment. [multi-layer insulation] blankets in the aerospace industry,” Beckham said. “We have polyester fabric. The little dots are metalized, it’s a multilayer stack, but it’s aluminum. And we have a layer on top of the aluminum, which in this case is a gold pigment.”
More than just an off-the-shelf commercial solution, the use of Omni-Heat Infinity on Nova-C is also helping Columbia develop better clothing.
“We have learned so much after working with Intuitive Machines,” said Beckham. “So what our original jackets have is one layer of reflective insulation lining. When we were introduced to these MLI or multi-layer insulation blankets, we felt that we could probably do that on our jackets as well. So if you look at our latest jackets, there’s a lining that reflects your own body heat and there’s another layer of foil on the shell but the gold is facing in towards the body.”
“This is effectively a multi-layer installation. On a weight-per-weight basis, it’s the warmest jacket Columbia has ever made,” he said.
While Odysseus has yet to land on the moon, Intuitive Machines and Columbia are already working on incorporating Omni-Heat Infinity into the second Nova-C lunar lander.
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“We are also partnering on the second mission,” Beckham said. “We’re talking about different materials and different places to put our installation material on that lander as well.”
“We are looking at how we can use Columbia’s technology to keep our countrymen alive during the cold [lunar, 14-Earth-day] night,” McGrath said. “We want to be able to isolate avionics systems that we need to keep warm. but we also need to keep them cool while using them during the day.”
Columbia, which coincidentally shares the same name as the Apollo 11 command module, is promoting the connection between IM-1 and its jackets with a new section on its website. The company is also taking over the exterior of the Sphere entertainment arena in Las Vegas on February 19 to highlight the role played by Omni-Heat Infinity technology throughout the history-making mission.
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