The Artemis III mission will return humans to the moon's surface in 2027. It will be the first time we have done so since the Apollo program ended in 1971. To capture this historic moment, the Handheld Universal Lunar Camera (HULC) has been developed by NASA with the help of Nikon since 2023. At CES, NASA and Nikon shared more information about the HULC.
The HULC has been confirmed to be a Nikon Z9 that has been modified to be able to be used in the extreme temperatures of the moon's surface. The temperature of the moon can drop as low as 173°C before rising to 127°C when facing the sun. In addition, lunar dust can damage the camera's lens and internal components. Therefore, the HULC comes with a thermal blanket that covers the entire camera body
Even though it is covered by a blanket, all the camera control buttons have been modified so that astronauts can still access it when performing missions on the moon's surface in the future. HULC is the result of a collaboration between NASA and Nikon since the Apollo missions because Nikon lenses were used at that time. Since 1999, Nikon has been the official camera for NASA astronauts on the International Space Station to take pictures of the Earth.