No, this desert rat is not a new, recently discovered species (see previous WholeWeirdWorld post on a huge, newly-discovered rat), these are NASA desert rats, part of a team that tests space vehicles like the Lunar Electric Rover or the Chariot, which will move astronauts across the Moon and Mars’ terrains in the Constellation missions.
They are now in the Arizona desert demonstrating the feasibility of the vehicles and the future astronauts’ Extra-Vehicular Activities.
One of the many things they are testing is what you can see in the photo above: Suit Ports. The suit ports are located on the Lunar Electric Rover’s aft. The are designed to let astronauts get in and out of their suits very quickly. They are equipped with alignment guides and electromagnetic mechanisms to lock and unlock to the hatch, so astronauts only have to get in, unlock, go do their thing, and then just lock to the LER again, and get out of the suit as quickly as they got in. Neat.
SOURCE: GIZMODO.com
Posted on September 17th, 2009 at 4:47 pm by Lin McNulty
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