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‘SuperLimbs’ could help astronauts recover from falls
Humans haven’t traveled to the moon since NASA’s Apollo program ended in 1972, but the Artemis program will soon return humans to the lunar surface, with the first crewed landing currently slated for 2026.

Artemis astronauts will aspire to do things humans haven’t done before, like building a habitable base to allow for long-term visits and exploring the heavily cratered lunar south pole.

Innovators across the world are working on solutions to help them achieve their goals, and to keep them safe. That includes researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who are developing a set of wearable robotic limbs to help astronauts recover from falls.

The so-called "SuperLimbs" are designed to extend from a backpack containing the astronauts’ life support system. When the wearer falls over, an extra pair of limbs can extend out to provide leverage to help them stand, conserving energy for other tasks.

That could come in handy. The moon’s partial gravity makes maintaining balance tricky. The 12 astronauts who moonwalked on Apollo missions fell 27 times and had another 21 near misses, according to a University of Michigan study.

When astronaut Charlie Duke toppled over on the moon in 1972, while performing tests on lunar soil, it took him three attempts to get up. The study found that falls were more common when, like Duke, 1xbet casino bonus astronauts were collecting samples or using tools – tasks that Artemis astronauts are likely to undertake.