NASA wants permanent moon base

[PeterD]

"NASA Associate Administrator Scott Horowitz said the goal is to conduct the first manned missions to the moon by 2020, starting with short stays by four-person crews that would establish the outpost."

"Before the manned missions, NASA plans a series of robotic missions. The first of these, using the lunar reconnaissance orbiter, is scheduled for 2008."

Enhanced interest from NASA in robotic lunar explorers should spark new interest & opportunity in robotics. Hopefully it will also renew kids' interest in math & science.

You can see the full article here (http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/12/04/moon.base/index.html).

[TheDuck]

Wouldn't it be great if NASA got there to find a bunch of robots already roaming about?

I think that's an interesting project from a challenge point of view. I'm not sure what benefit it would give us but perhaps I just haven't thought it through. I would love to be involved in such a project. Some really interesting challenges there!

Thanks, Peter.

[dporter]

Wouldn't it be great if NASA got there to find a bunch of robots already roaming about?

I think that's an interesting project from a challenge point of view. I'm not sure what benefit it would give us but perhaps I just haven't thought it through. I would love to be involved in such a project. Some really interesting challenges there!

Thanks, Peter.


Are you suggesting that the robot forum design a robotic mission to the moon? Interesting idea, NASA, JAXA, ESA, Roskosmos (Russia), CNSA (China), and the RMF (Robot Magazine Forum). I agree though it would be fun. I have had a chance to meet several NASA robotics experts/programmers/designers and doing that type of work would be an ultimate thrill.

[JoeStrout]

One of the most useful things robots could do on the Moon is to bury stuff. To protect astronauts from cosmic and solar radiation, you need about a meter or more of regolith on top of your habitat. The habitat can be landed unmanned, or with a crew that stays only a few weeks and then leaves. The next crew wouldn't be along for months. If, in that time, autonomous (or semi-autonomous) bulldozers could bury the hab in regolith, so it was all ready for the next crew to move in, that would really save a lot of money and increase crew safety.

We could simulate that here with a beach or sandbox contest, where smallish robots have to bury a big cooler or some such.

Best,
— Joe

[PeterD]

I can almost hear the conversation now, as the astronauts return to the Moon after the robots have burried the station:

Astronaut: HAL, where did you bury the pod bay doors?

HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I can't tell you that that!

:-))

[TheDuck]

Actually, that would be really embarassing. "Does anybody know where we put the $3 billion habitat? This GPS worked so well on Earth I was sure we'd be able to find it again." And don't take your wife! "Well, if you'd asked for directions at the Space Station we wouldn't be in this mess!!"

I rather love the idea of trying to do this on a beach. I have absolutely no idea what the surface of the moon is like. But if we had a similar environment (gravity difference notwithstanding) that could be quite a challenge. Ideas for Moonbase Molebots are starting to come alive in my head as I type. And whatever you come up with isn't exactly throwaway as the mining industry would love to have a safe, automated way to burrow into the crust of planets (specifically, the one we're standing on now).

[dporter]

There are several groups competing right now to design robots that can drill into the surface of a planet (mainly Mars). This has to be done with a very low amount of power to work with, on rock that is some of the hardest to drill through. The moon for example has the maria regions covered in basalt. This is the black type rock found around many ocean volcanos. The highlands would be more like the granites, diorites and things found on the continents. Without weathering there would be very little top soil (regolith), so the drilling is almost completely through solid rock.

[TheDuck]

In that case, we're going to need one of these to soften things up a bit.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_Ordnance_Air_Blast_bomb

[dporter]

Digging in a blast crater would probably help. We could make our own, or use one provided by nature. Hopefully asteroids are like lightning and don't hit the same place twice. Or if you have ever read "Footfall" we could guide the asteroids to the proper construction site and let gravity do all the work.

[dporter]

Here is a couple of links on going back to the moon, and on mining robots.


http://www.popsci.com/popsci/printerfriendly/aviationspace/7a675b4a1db84010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html


http://www.popsci.com/popsci/printerfriendly/aviationspace/8b6909cdd1919010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html