NASA To Lead Way With Lunar Robotics, Mining? April 7, 2010
Posted by Nick Azer in : lunar mining, NASA, Post-Constellation, robotics, rover , 2comments
The Google Lunar X PRIZE features a bonanza of robotic rover concepts (and companies with plans to continue working on the moon with robotics), but a Space.com article today notes NASA’s plans to blaze the path with their own post-Constellation rover missions:
“”The area where NASA could perhaps lead — an area which could affect society greatly — is robotics.” – Robert Braun, NASA Chief Technologist;’ NASA Plans New Robot Generation to Explore Moon, Asteroids’, Space.com
The article cites the 2011 NASA Budget Proposal as planning two lunar robotics missions, starting next year. (See Page 8 of the Proposal Overview [PDF]). One mission would test remote control of robotics from Earth or even the ISS, and the other could be a mission to test mining techniques for water and other in-situ resources. The proposal overview elaborates a little on the latter—saying missions could include “demonstrating a factory to process lunar or asteroid materials…”.
These missions sound like they’d go a long way towards NASA’s new role in supporting private space. By demonstrating and testing both control and method for utilizing lunar resources, they could really spur along companies that otherwise might not want to take on the risk or cost of figuring out the initial techniques.
Check out the article for an interesting quote from Peter Diamandis on the Google Lunar X PRIZE’s goal re: NASA, and the full skinny of details :)
2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge Digs In This Weekend! October 15, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Astrobotic, Google Lunar X Prize, Regolith Excavation Challenge, robotics , 2commentsThis weekend (October 17th-18th), 23 teams (including major Google Lunar X PRIZE competitor Astrobotic‘s Moon Diggers team) will be getting down and dirty in the 2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge at NASA Ames in Mountain View, CA (a stone’s throw from my old stomping ground, Santa Clara)!
Lunar regolith (soil) is a key resource in all kinds of ways—-it can be harvested for the all-important helium-3 and, now, water, and could be a valuable construction asset for moon bases. This competition spurs design concepts to maximize the speed and efficiency for these future lunar workhorses.
Check out the video below of an Astrobotic test run, and keep an eye here (and at the official site) for coverage of the results :) :
Japan To Have Bipedal Robots on the Moon by 2020? April 3, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Japan, robotics , add a comment
The cabinet-level Japanese Strategic Headquarters for Space Development has, according to an AP report, laid out a plan to have a walking robot on the Moon by 2020.
While details are thin at the moment (at least until the more detailed framework is released next month), Japan’s role in the base race has been increasing as of late–their Kaguya orbiter has made significant findings (including recently disproving the concept of a lunar “peak of eternal light”), they plan on having an astronaut on the moon by 2030, and the Japan Space Elevator Association made headlines as a leading effort.
NASA has a vaguely similar concept already in development–the Robonaut (arms and a head, but no legs):
Eternal Flame? Phoenix Lander Lasting Longer Than Expected October 6, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Base Race, Google Lunar X Prize, Helium-3, Integration, Phoenix lander, robotics, rover , add a comment
NASA’s robotic Mars lander, Phoenix, made news recently as it was snowed on. Let the Martian snowmen and snowball fights commence.
But, a subplot to this event and just as notable in the long run, is that the Phoenix lander has lasted much longer than anticipated.
Originally expected to last 90 Martian days (also known as “sols”; Martian hours, minutes, and seconds are 2.7% longer than Earth ones), the lander has operated for 120+. The Martian winter is settling in, and with the lander being at a pole, that means a long, cold dark and the probable end of the lander’s lifespan.
Considering that everything from the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize up through Helium-3 mining and moon base surveying and construction will be completed by similar robotic rovers and other heroic robots, the fact that as high-profile a rover as the Phoenix has proven much more durable than anticipated is great news for any and all forthcoming efforts to integrate, and then colonize the Moon.
Rovers proving more durable means that everything on Luna will get explored, built on, and mined that much faster and more efficiently (and more efficiency itself speeds things up again by freeing up R+D, etc. cash). If rovers and other equipment prove to consistently outperform expectations like the Phoenix has, then the pace of the Moon’s integration into our Earthbound society is going to get really wild.
The Phoenix lander’s perserverance has shone a bright light of promise into the future of robotic Martian, Lunar, and other missions.