moon

A team of legged robots from ETH Zurich may soon be hopping their way across lunar terrains. With the European Space Agency (ESA) and other space organizations looking towards lunar mining and exploration, the need for proficient exploration vehicles is paramount. To address this, researchers at ETH Zurich have suggested deploying not just a single rover, but an entire team of different robotic vehicles and aerial devices to explore the Moon.

A four-legged robot trained through artificial intelligence has learned the same lesson as the Apollo astronauts – that jumping can be the best way to move around on the surface the Moon. An update on LEAP (Legged Exploration of the Aristarchus Plateau), a mission concept study funded by ESA to explore some of the most challenging lunar terrains, has been presented at the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) 2022.

Mexico has officially started the COLMENA Project, the first Mexican lunar exploration mission. The mission, which will land on the moon in June, consists of five small robots that will be placed on the lunar surface. They are already on board the Peregrine Lander, made by the US Astrobotic company, and ready to travel the 384,400 kilometers that separate Earth from the moon.

A Moon-scanning method that can automatically classify important lunar features from telescope images could significantly improve the efficiency of selecting sites for exploration.