Listen to this audio excerpt from Ethan Jacobs, a helicopter pilot and member of the Colorado Army National Guard developing a foundational flight training course for Artemis astronauts:
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High above the Rocky Mountains, Ethan Jacobs is helping NASA preparing to land people on the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years. NASA will send astronauts to the lunar South Pole during the Artemis III mission and beyond. As part of their journeys, crew will travel in a human landing system that will safely transport them from lunar orbit to the lunar surface and back.
Jacobs, a chief warrant officer with the Colorado National Guard and helicopter pilot for 20 years, both privately, and with the U.S. Army active duty and National Guard, has been working with NASA to develop a foundational training course at the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site, near Gypsum, Colorado. The culmination of that work is a NASA-certified foundational training course for astronauts that exposes them to the challenges of vertical flight profiles and landing in extreme conditions.
The challenging conditions we fly in replicates – as much as possible here on Earth – some of the challenges astronauts will face when landing on the Moon.
Ethan Jacobs
Chief Warrant Officer, Colorado Army National Guard
Colorado’s challenging terrain, dusty and white-out conditions in certain places, and high desert landscape make it an ideal setting for replicating a lunar environment for flight. In addition, there can be flat light where there is little to no shadow, all of which can create visual illusions and challenge a crew’s sense of depth perception.
And a lot of the visual illusions the NASA astronauts training at the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site experience are eye-opening.
“I teach the astronauts how to distinguish slopes in degraded visual conditions because we normally judge slope by shadows and changes in vegetation color,” Jacobs said. “But these conditions in the Colorado mountains can be monochromatic, like on the Moon.”
On a typical flight in a UH-72 Lakota helicopter, Jacobs sits in the front with one astronaut crew member and another astronaut sits in the back. Jacobs trains the astronaut team on how best to identify and overcome visual and cognitive illusions while evaluating techniques and team dynamics. Working with NASA, Jacobs and his team have studied maps of the lunar terrain, then located similar landing zones in the Colorado mountains.
“The two-person astronaut crew has to work together, communicate, and navigate with real-world consequences,” Jacobs said. “Fuel is burning and they can’t press the pause button like in a simulator. I try to expose them to as many different conditions and various landing zones as possible.”
At the end of the day, adaptability is key to successfully landing in extreme conditions.
Ethan Jacobs
Chief Warrant Officer, Colorado Army National Guard
NASA recently certified the course, marking a milestone in preparing for the future Artemis III crew. Since 2021, astronauts with NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) have taken part in the high-altitude aviation course have proven to be receptive to the training and adaptable to expanding their piloting skills, Jacobs said.
Artemis astronauts will receive specialized training on the specific lander for their mission from NASA’s commercial providers, SpaceX and Blue Origin. The training course, along with simulators and specialized crew training, provides fundamental coursework that will allow Artemis astronauts to be best prepared to land on the lunar surface.
Through the Artemis campaign, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars for the benefit of all.
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