Tanya Weaver Mon 21 Oct 2024
Collected at: https://eandt.theiet.org/2024/10/21/simulation-technology-could-help-future-lunar-missions-collect-moon-dust
Teleoperated robots for gathering Moon dust are a step closer, according to new research by scientists at the University of Bristol.
The new race for the Moon is well under way. With its Artemis programme, Nasa is aiming to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon . It expects to return humans to the lunar surface by 2030 and build a permanent research station near the Moon’s south pole shortly after.
But Nasa is far from alone in the race. The UK Space Agency estimates that more than 250 missions may go to the Moon in the next decade.
Alongside a boom in lunar lander missions this decade, several public and private organisations are now researching how best to extract valuable resources, such as oxygen and water, from readily available materials such as lunar regolith (moon dust).
Remote handling of regolith is an essential step in these activities. But this presents challenges as regolith is sticky and abrasive. It will also have to be handled under reduced gravity.
A team of researchers from the University of Bristol are working on a teleoperated robotic solution. They were able to complete a sample collection task by controlling a virtual simulation, which then sent commands to a physical robot to mirror the simulation’s actions.
They were able to do so while only monitoring the simulation – without needing physical camera streams – meaning this tool could be particularly useful for delayed teleoperation on the Moon.
Lead author Joe Louca from the university’s School of Engineering Mathematics and Technology, and the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, said: “One option could be to have astronauts use this simulation to prepare for upcoming lunar exploration missions.
“We can adjust how strong gravity is in this model, and provide haptic feedback, so we could give astronauts a sense of how Moon dust would feel and behave in lunar conditions – which has a sixth of the gravitational pull of the Earth’s.”
He also said that the simulation could help those developing lunar robots by testing their systems without needing to invest in expensive simulants (artificial dust with the same properties as regolith) or have access to facilities.
Looking ahead, the team plans to investigate the potential non-technical barriers of this technology. This will include how people interact with this system, where communications suffer a round-trip delay of five to 14 seconds.
Louca said: “The model predicted the outcome of a regolith simulant scooping task with sufficient accuracy to be considered effective and trustworthy 100% and 92.5% of the time.”
“In the next decade we’re going to see several crewed and uncrewed missions to the Moon, such as Nasa’s Artemis programme and China’s Chang’e programme. This simulation could be a valuable tool to support preparation or operation for these missions.”
The research paper – Demonstrating Trustworthiness in Open-Loop Model Mediated Teleoperation for Collecting Lunar Regolith Simulant – was presented at the recent IROS 2024 (IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems).
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