A technology used to protect the first astronauts to land on the moon is now returning to the lunar surface, and you may already have some of this technology hanging in your cloakroom.
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander “Odysseus” (“Odie” for short) will attempt to become the first U.S.-built commercial spacecraft to land on the moon when it attempts to land near the moon’s south pole on February 22. The robotic probe, which lifts off from Earth on Thursday, February 15, will rely on a cryogenic propellant source to power its descent to the surface. Protecting the propulsion tank from the extreme temperatures of outer space is insulation based on insulation first used on NASA’s Apollo missions more than 50 years ago but has since been developed by Columbia Sportswear.
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“They took the Kapton coating from Apollo and turned it into reflective discs on their jackets,” said Peter McGrath, chief operating officer of Intuitive Machines, in an interview with CollectSPACE.com.
The same gold-dotted lining on Columbia’s jackets and other clothing also originated from the polyamide thermal blankets used to cover the Apollo lunar modules.
“We quickly realized this was a partnership that seemed to make sense,” said Haskell Beckham, vice president of innovation for Columbia Sportswear. “Once they explained what they were doing and I explained to them what we already had in our product line for thermal reflective insulation, we realized our material could really benefit the Moon landers.”
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C is one of several new U.S. 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 and cost more as a government project, the space agency has turned to companies that will land science instruments on the moon and also fly commercial payloads to make the mission profitable.
The Columbia Sportswear partnership is one such example on IM-1, the first flight of Nova-C headed for a landing in Malapert A, a crater located about 186 miles (300 kilometers) from the moon’s south pole. Intuitive Machines used Columbia’s Omni-Heat Infinity heat reflection technology to coat the A2 closure panel that protects the lander’s cryogenic propulsion tank.
“The material we use in our jackets, and have been using for over a decade, is very similar to the material currently used at MLI. [multi-layer insulation] “Blankets in the aerospace industry,” Beckham said. “We have polyester fabric. The little dots are metallized, it’s a multi-layer stack, but it’s aluminum. And there’s a layer on top of the aluminum, which in this case is a gold pigment.”
Using Omni-Heat Infinity in Nova-C is more than just a commercial off-the-shelf solution, it also helps Columbia develop better garments.
“We learned a lot after working with Intuitive Machines,” Beckham said. “So our original jackets have a single-layer reflective insulation liner. When we came across these MLI or multi-layer insulation blankets, we felt like we could probably do that in our jackets as well. The newest jackets have a lining that reflects your own body heat, and then there’s another layer of foil over the shell, but gold looking towards the body.”
“It’s really a multi-layered setup. On a weight basis, it’s the warmest jacket Columbia has ever made,” he said.
Although Odysseus has not yet landed on the moon, Intuitive Machines and Columbia are already working to incorporate Omni-Heat Infinity into the second Nova-C lunar lander.
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“We are also partnering on the second mission,” Beckham said. “And we’re talking about different materials and different places to put our installation materials on that lander.”
“We’re looking at how we can use Columbia technology to keep our landers alive in cold weather [lunar, 14-Earth-day] “We want to be able to insulate the avionics systems that we need to keep warm, but we also need to keep them cool when we use them during the day,” McGrath said.
Columbia, which coincidentally has the same name as Apollo 11’s command module, is promoting the connection between the IM-1 and its jackets with a new section on its website. The company will also take over the exterior of entertainment arena Sphere in Las Vegas on February 19 to highlight the role Omni-Heat Infinity technology has played throughout the history-making mission.
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