It has always been said that the dog is man’s best friend. Now, it seems that this would not be limited to real dogs. as collected Space, NASA could be preparing to send robot dogs on its lunar missions. Thus, the Artemis Mission will not leave humanity alone.
If you have a dog or have spent time watching one, you know some of their favorite hobbies, like digging, jumping, and exploring unknown places. Well, it seems that NASA would be trying to replicate this same behavior in its robot dogs of the Artemis programand would serve as a companion and tool for future astronauts.
LEAP is the concept of the robot dog, and an acronym for Legged Exploration of the Aristarchus Plateau. The Aristarchus Plateau —translated into Spanish— is a rocky elevation on the lunar surface. This area has been under study by the ESAand one they have wanted to explore for a long time.
Man’s best friend goes to the moon thanks to NASA
To send its robot dogs to the Moon, ESA would use its European Large Logistics Lander (EL3). This ship will be in charge of transferring loads and experiments to the lunar surface, and its first mission is expected to take place at the end of this decade. Of course, LEAP would go inside it to the Moon, where it will have the task of exploring the region.
LEAP, for its part, has the form of a quadrupedal being. Although he doesn’t exactly look like a dog, he does give us an idea of what he could bring to NASA and ESA missions in the future.
With the rover, we can investigate key features to study the Moon’s geological history and evolution, such as ejecta around craters, recent impact sites, and collapsed lava tubes, where material may not have been altered by Earth. space weathering and other processes.
Patrick Bambach, engineer at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany
Secondly, LEAP’s design has been inspired by another famous robot dog called ANYmal, developed by the company ANYbotics. The latter, meanwhile, has the ability to fall and get up, climb steep slopes, dig channels in the ground, and use its legs to flip rocks and check what is below. These are the essential foundations of what the NASA/ESA robot will need for lunar exploration.
A new generation of lunar exploration
Rovers have been an essential tool in exploring other regions in space. An example of this is Curiosity, which is studying and extracting information from the surface of Mars. Now, the arrival of LEAP robot dogs would take these same possibilities much further.
However, things are still pretty raw inside the NASA and ESA offices. Yes indeed, a robot of this style would have already been tested in a simulated scenarioto study its possibilities and limitations with the conditions of gravity and other properties of the Moon.
As for its dimensions, the team expects LEAP to weigh 50 Kg by massone fifth of this amount belonging to scientific charges.
Traditional rovers have made great discoveries on the Moon and Mars, but they have limitations. Exploring terrain with loose soil, large rocks, or slopes greater than 15 degrees is especially difficult with wheels. For example, the Mars rover Spirit’s mission ended when he got stuck in the sand.
Patrick Bambach, engineer at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany