MELLTT

The permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) of the Moon are believed to be cold and water-rich regions but are hard to access. I have, together with other MIT students, developed, built, and tested a tall tower that can be deployed close to the PSRs to provide line of sight to those craters. Our Multifunctional Expandable Lunar Lightweight Tall Tower (MELLTT) will have an upper bus at the top of the tower that will serve as a mounting point for radio, imaging, and power beaming payloads to support robotic and human exploration. Our tower will build essential infrastructure for the exploration of lunar ice. Selected as the “Best Path to Flight” in the NASA BIG Idea Challenge 2020, our tower may go to the Moon with the NASA Artemis astronauts in 2024.