New Presentation Series: Lunar Engineering 101

As humanity embarks on establishing a sustained human presence on the Moon, there is an urgent need to begin the development of long-term and reliable lunar surface systems. Transformative lunar surface technologies are needed to address numerous capabilities needs, including power, excavation, construction, in-situ resource utilization, and extreme access. To realize these, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has called upon industry, government, and academic sectors in order to harness their interest, creativity, and resources for novel, modern, and competitive solutions that can enable sustained lunar exploration and settlement in the near future. Through the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC), these communities have consistently demonstrated their interest and enthusiasm to participate in this effort. The LSIC community spans wide ranges of expertise and has communicated concerns regarding the inconsistent level of understanding of the lunar surface and its environments as they relate to engineering. To meet this need, LSIC has developed an online video series that presents the fundamental characteristics of lunar surface environments, along with their respective challenges, and additional hardware design considerations. This new resource, named Lunar Engineering 101, has been prepared by subject matter experts (SMEs) in lunar science and spacecraft engineering, and is facilitated by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII). This paper offers an overview of the concept, organization, and contents of the Lunar Engineering 101 video series.