Space

Spherical spelunker robot designed to roll around in lunar caves

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Artist's concept of DAEDALUS, a spherical robot designed to explore caves on the Moon
JMU
DAEDALUS prototype
JMU
Diagram of DAEDALUS and its extendable arms
JMU
Artist's concept of DAEDALUS, a spherical robot designed to explore caves on the Moon
JMU
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ESA has unveiled a spherical robot that may one day be used to explore caves on the Moon. Called the Descent And Exploration in Deep Autonomy of Lunar Underground Structures (DAEDALUS) robot, the spelunking rover is being designed as part of the Lunar Caves-System Study by the space agency's Concurrent Design Facility at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands.

Lunar caves are of great interest to mission planners, especially when it comes to setting up permanent outposts on the Moon. They are not only of great scientific interest because they could be a source of pristine geological samples, but they could also be a source of raw materials like water ice for life support and rocket fuel, and could be adapted as habitats that offer protection against cosmic radiation, temperature extremes, and micrometeorites.

The difficulty is that the most obvious caves have openings in the form of pits that have been mapped by orbiting spacecraft, so a tracked rover can't just roll into one for exploration. To overcome this, the 18-in (46-cm) DAEDALUS robot being designed by a team led by the Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg (JMU) would be lowered into these "skylights" on a tether.

DAEDALUS prototype
JMU

Once on the ground, the robot would then disconnect and roll away propelled by extendable rods that could also be used to clear obstacles and analyze the properties of rock. The tether would serve as a Wi-Fi receiver to maintain communication with Earth as the robot maps the cavern in 3D using lidar, while also measuring temperatures and radiation.

So far, three prototypes of DAEDALUS have been constructed to test the sensors and the locomotion systems. A fourth prototype has been designed as a compact, tightly integrated device with a complementary payload set and high degree of autonomy.

"The design is driven by the requirement to observe the surroundings in full 360 degrees and the necessity to protect the interior from the harsh lunar environment," says Dorit Borrmann of the DAEDALUS team. "With the cameras acting as a stereo vision system and the laser distance measurements, the sphere detects obstacles during descent and navigates autonomously upon reaching the pit floor."

Source: ESA

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3 comments
Ralf Biernacki
Whoever came up with that concept has never been in a cave. This robot will be thwarted by even a relatively modest incline, a single step, or an inconveniently placed stalagmite. It is the worst possible shape for negotiating narrow passages, and the worst possible shape for climbing. And how do they came up with the idea that these extending wires will "be used to clear obstacles"? There are plenty of better robot designs out there; probably the best for this application would be an articulated snake robot, such as the one used for recon by Israeli army. Google "snake robot".
mike085
Ralf, I believe there wouldn't be any stalagmites on the moon as there is no water. The caves there are mostly (if not entirely) ancient lava tubes. So the conditions encountered would vary much less than what you would get on earth.
Ralf Biernacki
@mike: Boulders, then. The pits to be explored are places where the ceiling of the lava tube caved in, so boulders are likely to be present. Doesn't matter really, whether stalagmite or boulder: any sort of bump will be end-of-line for this pathetic beach ball urchin, as it is only capable of rolling over wide open, gently sloping terrain. Many alternatives exist that can clear modest obstacles: hopping robots, snake robots, spidery robots. Even a wheeled robot with wheels mounted on cantilever arms would be vastly better at negotiating natural terrain.