Difficulties are one way to encourage innovation. The European Space Agency (ESA) is now getting in on the action, with an obstacle to possibility the moon for important resources that will make a sustainable presence there possible.
The results of this first stage of the challenge are expected by the end of the month, with 5 winners taking home EUR75K each for this first stage of the obstacle. Their mission was to search through a simulated lunar polar environment with low light and difficult surface and gather as much info as possible about the resources that might potentially be exploited in that environment.
Some rovers lined up for the competition.Credit– ESA/ G. Porter
Much of that details would be gathered as visual or spectroscopic analysis. Teams made use of various sensing and locomotion technologies, consisting of wheeled rovers, legged walkers, and even flying drones (which would probably show impractical in the moons thin environment)..
The environment they passed through was built to represent a lunar pole that had a mock crater in it. A lack of extreme temperature cycles makes lunar poles, specifically the craters, exciting locations for a permanent human presence. But the low light levels can make it hard to see what resources might be offered in them.
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For this reason the obstacle– a dimly lit area where groups were needed to evaluate as much as possible in the 2.5 hours they were provided to explore the area. They had to navigate a “traversal zone” to get to the website where resources might be discovered. After that point, anything goes, with the reward going to the group that can gather the most correct details.
ESA expects outcomes to be upcoming by the end of the month, with five groups receiving a money benefit and a welcome to the 2nd stage of the program prepared for September of this year. The supreme objective would be to utilize the technology to support an objective later in the years as part of a crewed objective to the moon. Theres still a long way to arrive, but establishing the technologies asked for by this challenge is a clear step on that path, no matter how severely lit it might be.
Find out more: ESA– Lunar robot warsESA– Gloomy moonscape for rover test3D Printing Media Network– ESA introduces ISRU Space Resources Competition for future systemsESA– ESA/ ESRIC Space Resources Challenge.
Lead Image: A wheeled rover searches the poorly lit competitors area for resources.Credit– ESA/ M. Sabbatini.
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Challenges are one method to encourage development. The European Space Agency (ESA) is now getting in on the action, with a challenge to prospect the moon for important resources that will make a sustainable presence there possible. The challenge– a poorly lit area where teams were needed to examine as much as possible in the 2.5 hours they were offered to check out the location. Theres still a long method to get there, however establishing the technologies asked for by this difficulty is a clear step on that course, no matter how severely lit it may be.
