NASA Desert Rats Live webcams Online From Meteor Crater

Live webcams from Meteor Crater in Arizona
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Webcams active (approximately) Eastern: 11:00am to 10:00pm EDT

What is the NASA Desert Rats?

The Desert RATS is a NASA-led team of research partners working together to prepare for human-robotic exploration. This “working group,” led by NASA personnel, is comprised of both NASA and non-NASA Members.

The Desert RATS field test activity is the culmination of the various individual science and advanced engineering discipline areas year-long technology and operations development efforts into a coordinated field test demonstration under representative (analog) planetary surface terrain conditions. The purpose of the RATS effort is to drive out preliminary exploration operational concepts for EVA system requirements by providing hands-on experience with simulated planetary surface exploration extravehicular activity (EVA) hardware and procedures.

The RATS activities also are of significant importance in helping to develop the necessary levels of technical skills and experience for the next generation of engineers, scientists, technicians, and astronauts who will be responsible for realizing the goals of the Constellation Program.

The 2005 Desert RATS was the eighth RATS field test and was the most systems-oriented, integrated field test to date with participants from four NASA field centers, the United States Geologic Survey (USGS), four industry partners, and three research institutes.

For more information about the NASA Desert RATS, please contact Barbara Janoiko