NASA to test lunar habitat in Antarctic

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it will test one of its concepts for astronaut lunar housing in the harsh climate of the Antarctic.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is sending a prototype inflatable habitat to Antarctica to see how it stands up to the harsh, frigid climate during a year of use.

NASA; the National Science Foundation, which manages McMurdo Station in the Antarctic; and the ILC Dover Co., the manufacturer of the prototype structure, will share data from the 13-month test that begins in January.

An inflatable habitat is one of several concepts being considered for astronaut housing on the moon.

"Testing the inflatable habitat in one of the harshest, most remote sites on Earth gives us the opportunity to see what it would be like to use for lunar exploration," said Paul Lockhart, director of Constellation Systems for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.

NASA's Constellation Program is designed to send humans back to the moon by 2020.