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The Scarab, a robotic rover that will explore the dark craters of the Moon
Carnegie Mellon University loves robots and, more than that, a challenge: How do you get at possible minerals around the Moon's crater-studded south pole where there's no light for energy, or to see what you're doing? The CMU team's solution is the Scarab, a fully autonomous prospector 'bot, that'll carry out its work using laser scanners to navigate the harsh terrain and a radioactive power source to keep itself going.
It needs to be able to core through a meter of possibly hard, icy soil to get at the pockets of hydrogen concentrations for study — and its wheels are the key. The dynamic platform allows the Scarab to move over slopes and jagged landforms, and acts as a stabilizer when the 'bot goes belly-down to drill. The Scarab will move along slowly, as its radioactive isotope power source only produces about 100 watts — or the power of your average light bulb — to keep the robotic rover moving and thinking. The good news? That source also lasts about 10 years, so it'll have plenty of time to do what it needs to do.
The Scarab is about to undergo field testing at a volcanic range in Hawaii to see if it's up to the task of exploring dark lunar craters. If it does well, it may win a golden ticket from NASA to head to the moon and start its studies. Click Continue for a snippet from the Discovery Channel detailing CMU's Scarab autonomous prospector.
Scarab, via EurekAlert!, via BotJunkie
By Steve C at 12:08 PM ON 10/15/08
Ummm, first of all there is no "dark side" of the moon. It is actually the far side and gets as much light as the near side. So there is light for energy but as everywhere else on the moon the lunar day is 27 Earth days long as is the lunar night.
By Kevin Hall at 12:21 PM ON 10/15/08
@Steve
I've updated the article to talk more about the lightless conditions - specifically inside the craters of the Moon's south pole.
By Jinx at 7:24 PM ON 10/16/08
www.filthyrichmond.blogspot.com
By Jim Jones at 7:28 PM ON 10/16/08
Wow, I can hardly wait to see what they might find there!
Jiff
www.privacy-tools.at.tc
By Doc Gonzo at 11:52 PM ON 10/16/08
The dark side of the moon is called that because it is ALWAYS dark. The moon is geostationary; the same face always faces the same way.
And before you jump on my inaccuracies, LOOK IT UP. While you're at it, realize that the poles of a planetary body are ALWAYS less exposed to the sunlight - this is why we have icecaps. Coincidentally this is how they are determined to be the 'poles'.
By Hedgecore at 12:23 AM ON 10/17/08
Despite your rampant use of capitalized words, the moon is NOT geostationary. It is tidally locked. A geostationary orbit would imply that the moon is always over the exact same spot on earth at any given time.
As well, the poles of a planetary body are not always exposed to less sunlight. Look at Uranus' tilt; it's almost on it's side. 'Poles' are determined to be such because of the magnetic field of the body in question.
I'm guessing you're not a real doctor. :)
By Mark at 4:27 AM ON 10/17/08
Doc Gonzo - you're wrong. There is a facing side and a far side to the moon. We always see the facing side.
In a full moon, the facing side is in full sunlight, and the far side is in darkness. In a new moon, the far side is in full sunlight and the facing side is in darkness.
By Jemima Holbert at 11:51 AM ON 10/18/08
Hey!great work dude.Hope this solves the long time mystry of moon.Will it be done only in darkside of the moon?- Cignus Web - a Data Entry India Company
By ICbLkH0lz at 12:50 PM ON 10/20/08
So, if this rover scarab is deep in a crater on a lunar pole - out of sunlight and also out of Earth line of sight, how does it phone home when / if it detects H20 ice?
By Eric at 2:05 PM ON 04/12/09
see the south moon darkness zone with hydrogen hopefully, how nice
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