NASA is working towards a sustained lunar habitation, which is presenting some interesting engineering challenges. One of the people working on the concepts and solutions for making that human presence a reality is Goncalo Esteves, Founder and CTO, Argo Space Technologies.
Argo Space Technologies is focused on systems engineering, process implementation, product management, and engineering support for Lunar habitation. The company supported Planetoid Mines in its submission for the NASA Break the Ice Challenge. The goal of the challenge is to further the development of technologies that can excavate and transport large quantities of icy lunar regolith and can continuously operate for 15 days.
The teams will move on to build and test full-size prototypes in Level 2. The 13 U.S. teams will receive equal shares of NASA’s $500,000 prize purse for Level 1.
In Level 3, qualifying teams will put their prototypes to the test in a head-to-head onsite competition for a shot at $1.5 million in prizes.
But Lunar habitation is not the only aspect of space exploration in which Argo Space Technologies is involved. Goncalo and his team are also involved in the International Space Station (ISS) and World Design Organization – Business and Process Team
The team is working to design the new business processes for manufacturing in space and new business model as NASA works towards commercialization of the station. The team worked with ISS personnel to propose cycle time reduction from three years down to six months on projects for cost savings of some $500 million.
How does what happens in space affect your everyday life? The Ex Terra podcast is dedicated to introducing you to many of the interesting people involved in the commercial space industry, and taking you behind the scenes with many of the companies making significant contributions to the new space economy. The podcast is available on Anchor, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Breaker, Overcast, Pocketcasts and Radio Public.
Share this post