Tag: Space Exploration

Astrobotic’s Tiny Rover To Test Endurance Of Small Robots On The Moon

Astrobotic, the Pennsylvanian aerospace company plans on sending a lander to the Moon within the next couple of years for various tests and studies. The main motive of the tests will be to test the operational life of small robots on the Moon’s surface. The toaster-sized machine was built by the Carnegie Mellon University and will pave the way for drone-based space exploration.

NASA (National Aeronautical Space Agency) had previously contracted Astrobotic with a sum of $79.5 million to carry the American space agency’s 14 payloads on its lander, which is dubbed Peregrine. The lander will reportedly carry another 14 payloads from various commercial companies, space agencies and research organizations. All the payloads will be hauled in a lander which is over 6 feet tall and 8 feet wide.

The reason for the rovers small stature is due to the lack of room in the cargo region of the Peregrine landers. Hence, an announcement unveiled the development of a tiny robot that can survive the low gravity, extreme temperature conditions, and high radiation environment on the lunar surface. An average rover is built to be large and sturdy to survive the gruelling conditions while carrying scientific instruments. Astrobotic faces a Herculean task of creating a fully functioning rover of this size.

The Peregrine lander will also carry a couple of other pint-sized rovers apart from the one developed by Astrobotic. For the lunar mission, ispace, a Japanese company is planning on supplying the lander with its own rover, similar to the Mexican space agency. These mobile platforms form one of the most crucial parts of Astrobotic’s Moon mission. Terrain mapping and reconnaissance around the lander on the moon will be provided by such tiny mobile robots while being tested for endurance.

The tiny robot will face numerous hurdles on its mission with many factors that can render it useless on the Moon’s surface. Some of the probable problems include rough surfaces, power generation, and temperature regulations. The small size implies that solar panels, radiators and outfitting scientific sensors will be limited. The gravity, however, plays in favour of the drones, making it easier for the 4-pound (approx. 1.8 kilograms) rover to traverse the lunar terrain.

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The success of this mission will open up lunar exploration for other groups that seek to employ their own tiny drones, with cheaper cost of entry and easy building methods. The entire mission only has a small window of operational value due to the 2-week long night and day cycle on the Moon. All drones are expected to perish in the frigid dark conditions on the Moon 2 weeks into the mission. However, with their ‘sacrifice’, a new method of space and surface exploration can potentially be available for similar endeavours in the future.

June 6, 2019
NASA is Planning to Send Women To The Moon, Mission To Be Called Artemis

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the US is planning to get women to the surface of the moon by the year 2024. In light of recent reports, it has been declared that the mission will be named Artemis, after the Greek Goddess of the Moon. This lines up perfectly with the fact that the first moon missions were named Apollo, after the Greek God of Sun and Light. NASA’s famous Apollo Missions introduced the Moon’s surface to the first men who walked on it, namely Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969.

NASA Administrator stated that it is very fortunate that after almost 50 years after the first moon mission, the Artemis program will carry the next man and the first ever woman to the surface of the moon. He further added that within the next five years, the milestone will most likely be successfully shattered.

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NASA announced the name of the mission report on May 13 2019, shortly after it unveiled its updated budget request for touching down on the moon by 2024. The program is still in its early stages. Reportedly, NASA has been working on space vehicles and capsules for a long time now, and even though they have not been occupied by any astronauts till date, NASA will commence test runs soon. A lot of new hardware, such as Lunar Landers are also being manufactured for the Artemis mission, which will soon become a reality.

May 18, 2019
NASA To Crash A Spacecraft Into An Asteroid In 2022

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA is a well-known space organisation; and an independent agency of the United States. In a world first, it has announced the Double Asteroid Redirection Test or the DART Mission. It is a defence driven mission aimed at preventing the impact on Earth by a potentially hazardous asteroid in the future. In the DART mission, NASA will send a spacecraft to crash into an asteroid in the year 2022.

NASA DART Mission

The DART Spacecraft

The NASA DART Mission, as mentioned above, aims at sending a spacecraft to crash into an asteroid called Didymos to test the planetary defences of Earth. In the details revealed on the organisation’s official website, it is known the mission will be the first time the kinetic impactor technique is demonstrated. The technique will try to change the motion or path of the asteroid in space. The DART mission has swiftly reached Phase C and is managed under NASA’s Solar System Exploration Program at Marshal Space Flight Center for the organisation’s Planetary Defence Coordination Office.

Didymos Asteroid

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The DART spacecraft launch is scheduled for late July 2021 aboard the Falcon 9 rocket made by SpaceX. It will launch from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California and is expected to intercept with the Didymos asteroid in late September of the year 2022. Noteworthy, the asteroid will be within a distance of 11 million kilometres from Earth at the time and poses no harm to the planet in any way. While the mission seems far fetched at first, its real-world application may be very important in the future. If the mission is successful, Earth will have gained the ability to fend off incoming threats from outer space like asteroids or meteorites. This has the potential of minimising or saving the planet from damage in case of any potential collision.

May 11, 2019
Amazon CEO Bezos Wants To Send People To The Moon By 2024

It’s an exciting time to be alive right now. Humans are closer to interplanetary space travel than ever before. Private space organizations including SpaceX are testing out space vehicles such as the Starship and Super Heavy that can safely transport humans to Mars. On the 9th of May 2019, Jeff Bezos unveiled a Lunar Lander that will fulfil the mission of establishing humans on the moon by the year 2024.

Known as the Blue Moon, the lander will be capable of autonomous space navigation. It will be able to perform soft landings on the surface of the moon while carrying payloads weighing between 3.6 and 6.5 metric tons. This implies that the Blue Moon will be able to carry a total of 4 large rovers simultaneously. This is a small part in a much larger plan to analyze the resources and the surface of the moon.

Why Do We Need To Send Humans To The Moon?

Today, our founder shared our vision to go to space to benefit Earth. We must return to the Moon—this time to stay. We’re ready to support @NASA in getting there by 2024 with #bluemoon. pic.twitter.com/UqQyMa9Zcn
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) May 9, 2019

Jeff Bezos has previously talked about his vision to “make space an accessible place for all”. The Amazon CEO believes that the earth cannot accommodate a trillion humans. In an attempt to prevent such a situation, he plans to develop an infrastructure that can sustain human life on the bleak rock that we all call “Moon”. Moreover, Blue Origin owned by Jeff Bezos is already working on a couple of space vehicles designed for short duration flights to the moon’s orbit. But that’s not it. Jeff also wants to harness the resources present on the moon in order to generate future-viable energy.

The richest man on the planet plans to instate American astronauts on the South Pole of the moon in the next 5 years. The Indian Space Research Organization’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter collected data that confirmed the presence of more than 1 trillion pounds of ice at the lunar poles. The ice refuses to evaporate because the temperature on the moon’s surface never exceeds -250 degrees Fahrenheit. NASA wants to harness the ice to generate rocket fuel for future missions.

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Amidst the “space race”, one question still looms over our heads. Will privately funded space organizations compete amongst themselves in the future? If so, how will this affect interplanetary travel? Advancements in aerospace will eventually speed up because of the evolution of technology. Nonetheless, the Blue Moon Lander is expected to undergo its first ignition test this summer, which will mark another integral step towards expanding the “space footprint”.

May 10, 2019
Chinese Rover Shares First Photo Of The Far Side Of The Moon

China has sent two robots to the moon! The term ‘Over the moon’ has a new meaning now because no human has ever been to the far side. Despite several pop culture references, it isn’t actually dark. And we know that because the rovers are now sending us images!

What is Far Side Of The Moon?

For the uninitiated, we only see one side of the moon from earth. This side is called the near side. This is because the moon takes roughly the same time to orbit the Earth as it takes to spin around it’s axis. It is the first time that a rocket has landed on the far side as well. However, it isn’t the first time that the far side has been photographed. Luna 3, a Soviet spacecraft did photograph the far side of the Moon in 1959. Sometimes the far side is referred to as the dark side because we know very little about that area, hence the term ‘dark’. The problem with sending machines to the dark side is that it is so far away that it becomes extremely difficult to communicate with the robots.

China has overcome this problem by sending a satellite named Queqiao, which communicates with the rover and relays information to and from the rover back to earth. China has sent a rover along with a lander as part of Chang’e-4 mission. The robotic lander and rover is called Yutu-2. The rover and lander was launched 7 December 2018 and entered orbit around the Moon on 12 December 2018. It landed at 10:26AM Thursday, Beijing time.

Lunar rover of Chang'e 4 probe given the name 'Yutu 2' pic.twitter.com/lUw2CcSNBK
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) January 4, 2019

Mission Objectives

The photos that it has sent shows a barren, desert-like surface with craters. The mission of the rover and lander, apart from documenting the area, also involves scientific research as well. It will be studying the geophysics of the landing zone, researching solar bursts, gather radiation dosimetry for future human exploration of the Moon among other important things. However, the most important payload it carries is a 3 kg sealed “biosphere” with seeds and insect eggs to test whether plants and insects could hatch and grow. If successful, this might mean that there is a bright future for humankind’s survival on this barren satellite.

January 4, 2019