Japan plans to send miniature transforming robot to the moon
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to send a miniature spherical transforming robot to the lunar surface. At the same time, the main task of such a robot will be to collect data necessary to develop a future lunar rover (and later a rover) capable of transporting people.
Of course, JAXA is not the only agency in the world that is actively developing new technologies and equipment of a new generation, which in the future will make it possible to ensure the constant presence of a person both on our satellite Moon and on other planets (in particular on Mars).
So the Japanese agency seeks to develop a fully sealed lunar rover that can safely transport astronauts, reliably protecting them from an unfriendly lunar landscape.
For a full-fledged development, scientists need the most diverse information, and it is to collect it that JAXA will send a tiny robot to the moon.
This robot is being developed jointly by representatives of JAXA, Sony, Doshish University, and the toy manufacturer Tomy Company.
And representatives of the company ispace (engaged in the study of the moon) received a contract to deliver the robot directly to the surface of the satellite using its own commercial module. At the same time, the flight is scheduled for 2022.
So, as conceived by the engineers, in the process of transportation to the moon, the transforming robot itself will have a spherical shape and its diameter will be modest 8 cm. And already directly on the surface of the satellite, the robot weighing only 250 grams is transformed into the so-called "marching form".
In the process of its movement, the robot will collect data on how the regolith (the upper layer of the moon) reacts to the disturbances caused by the movement of the robot.
Since the "runner" is too small, it will redirect all the accumulated data not to the Earth, but to the lander, which will relay the data directly to the Earth.
So in JAXA they express the hope that the array of information collected in this way will make it possible to better understand the lunar surface and, thus, create the most efficient fully automated driving system capable of operating on various surfaces of other celestial Tel.
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