NASA wants to bring people back to the moon in 2024, along with a suite of robot helpers to assist them.
Among these helpers will be the first American robotic arm to operate on the moon in more than 50 years. Maxar Technologies received final contractual approval, to the tune of $5 million, for the Sample Acquisition, Morphology Filtering and Probing of Lunar Regolith (SAMPLR) arm.
SAMPLR’s mission is to provide a thorough investigation of the moon’s “soil”, which is more often called regolith among scientists. Regolith has some interesting implication for human missions. For one, the NASA astronauts who walked on the moon complained about moon dust affecting tools and getting deep into their spacesuits. For another, regolith has the potential to be used for human habitats — but we need to study it more closely to be sure.
NASA is planning to send humans back to the moon through the Artemis program, after rapidly passing through a set of milestones to certify key equipment for carrying humans. Among other things, the agency will prepare its massive Space Launch System rocket for human launches and will develop new spacesuits, spacecraft and tools to work on the lunar surface.
This new development is necessary because the Apollo missions that brought astronauts to the moon took place 50 or so years ago, before advances in computers and materials that could make today’s missions nimbler and lighter. Artemis will also allow astronauts and robots to do studies of the moon on its surface, rather than relying on the nearly 900 pounds of moon rocks that astronauts brought back between 1969 and 1972.
The last American robot arm on the moon came as part of the Surveyor 7 mission, which ran for about a month in 1968. The spacecraft — unique among robots of the time — was the only one to land in the highlands of the moon. It also was one of a long suite of missions that helped NASA prepare for landing astronauts later in the decade.
And for Maxar, this new robotic arm contract is just one way in which the Colorado-based company is showing off its space robot smarts. Just a few days ago, Maxar announced a $142 million robot assembly contract that will put together a test structure in Earth orbit. Another recent contract was signed with DARPA for the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites mission, which is supposed to repair satellites in high Earth orbit.
