When multiple Athletes are docked together, the habitat doors can be aligned within a thousandth of an inch, creating a seal tight enough that astronauts can pass from their living quarters to a science laboratory next door in their shirtsleeves. There, astronauts can analyze samples collected on daytime missions or gathered by drills and scoops attached to Athlete's legs. They will be searching for solutions to a number of scientific puzzles. For example: Did a meteorite really kill off the dinosaurs and, if so, when did it happen? The clues may be on the moon. "A big impact on Earth would have covered the moon in a thin blanket of dust," Wilcox says. "Because the moon has no plate tectonics, the layers beneath the surface are presumably undisturbed. Using the scoop on Athlete would allow us to look at the layering and get an unambiguous timeline of when those events occurred—like with tree rings."