The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Kajima Corp. announced Tuesday that a test to remote control and autonomous operation of heavy machinery from a distance of about 1,000 kilometers was successful, part of research aimed at future construction of a base on the moon.
JAXA envisions someday building a manned base and hydrogen plant to produce fuel on the moon's surface. As transporting many workers presents logistical problems, the agency has been conducting research into the remote control of unmanned heavy machinery in collaboration with Kajima since 2016.
The latest testing was conducted in March. Commands were sent from JAXA's Sagamihara Campus in Kanagawa Prefecture to an unmanned road roller located in a construction site at the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture.
The vehicle avoided obstacles as it moved about 30 meters by remote control, and, after switching to automatic operation, leveled about 400 square meters of land.
It takes several seconds for communications from the Earth to reach the moon 380,000 kilometers away. Therefore, the test was carried out with an intentional time delay in communications, but no problems were observed with the operation.
One hurdle that JAXA and Kajima needs to overcome is that the global positioning system used to locate the road roller cannot be applied for the moon. They are looking into alternate methods.
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