Britain is set to launch a robotic ‘space spider’ to the moon in 2021, the first time a walking rover has been sent to explore a distant world.
The tiny probe – dubbed Asagumo – was designed by London-based robotics experts Spacebit and will ride NASA to the lunar surface next summer.
It will be the first time a British rover has gone to the moon, and Spacebit engineers opted for legs instead of wheels so that it can navigate bumpy terrain and crawl underground lava tubes to see if they can be habitable. are for people. .
Many experts now believe that lava tubes – tunnel-like chambers in the rock created by lava flows billions of years ago – could provide natural hiding places and thus are a good place to set up the first colonies.
The moon is a treacherous environment for astronauts, as temperatures can drop below -274F (-170C) during the lunar night, and the surface is bombarded by solar radiation and micrometeorites.
Although the largest lava tubes on Earth are only about 18 meters wide, on the Moon they can be hundreds of meters wide and can be sealed to contain breathable air.
The rocky roof also provides a ready-to-use shield against harmful radiation, and the temperature inside drops to just -4F to -22 (-20C to -30C), allowing the pipes to be heated to a comfortable level.
One tube, discovered in the Marius Hills region, is at least 1,000 meters wide and high, and could accommodate small towns. There may be a large underground network from when volcanic activity was widespread on the moon.
Spacebit CEO Pavlo Tanasyuk said designing a rover with legs was crucial to finding out if lava tubes are useful for habitation.