Monday / 22 May 2006
 
Credit: Mexico Government
Mexican Space Agency to Develop Mex-LunarHab. Jesus Raygoza, founder of the Mexican Space Society and Mex-LunarHab (MLH) proponent, reports that his country's Congress has approved the creation of a space agency. The Mexican Space Agency (AEXA) is to be initially capitalized with $2M, which has not yet been specified denominationally. Also, AEXA will begin developing the MLH simulator that would provide a Moon analog for scientists and the public. Eventually a real MLH would go to the Moon. Three members of the MLH team are involved in the development of AEXA: Patricio Gonzalez-Quintanilla, Brenda Pulido G., and Jesus Raygoza. MLH will be a spherical-shaped module incorporating activity zoning and optimization of spaces in each compartment, size reduction, astronaut safety, and risk reduction protocols. It will be a vertical cylindrical-shaped spacecraft-habitat consisting of three levels. At the top will be a conical structure with four seats (pilot, co-pilot, and crew). Powered by a set of engines, MLH is envisioned to land on the Moon by itself. It will be placed on flat land that will permit it to make all kinds of tests with rovers or human expeditions. The intended site is somewhere around Malapert Mountain, probably at Newton Base, which has over 340 days of sunlight. But before MLH reaches the Moon, a simulator will be installed on the Cerro del Pajarito (Little Bird’s Mountain) near Ciudad Juarez, in the State of Chihuahua. The site has the geographical position and geological conditions to be a good lunar analog.