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[EN VIDÉO] Live and work like on the Moon or on Mars The Hawai’i Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) is a research station installed at an altitude of some 2,500 meters, in a dome of approximately 110 square meters, on the flanks of the Mauna Loa volcano, in Hawaii. The objective: to simulate the life of human colonists who will go to settle on the Moon or on Mars. Not only to understand how astronauts will be able to interact with each other in difficult conditions, but also to develop the most suitable methods and equipment for living and researching on the Moon and Mars. © HI-SEAS
If the surface of the Moon is criss-crossed by devices robotics and Men for more than 60 years, the underground passages of our natural satellite have never been explored. The European Space Agency (ESA) published a communicated on March 16 explaining that the institution was working on an underground exploration project for the Moon.
ESA wishes to develop two robots which would be able to evolve in the cavities formed in various places of the lunar soil: RoboCrane and Daedalus. The objective is to collect viable data on the environment of the inner layers of the Moon, in parallel with the Artemis missions.
robots under the moon
According to the ESA, the crust of the Moon would extend for about 50 kilometers, dotted with craters and tunnels. The latter were formed when the Moon was experiencing intense geological activity, more than 3 billion years ago. At that time, waves of wash dug the tunnels that the European Space Agency now wants to explore.
ESA began preparations for such an operation in 2019, as part of the mission of the Concurrent Design Facility (CFD). It would therefore require the deployment of two robots thanks to the future European Large Logistics Lander 3 (EL3), which is only at the project stage. RoboCrane would be responsible for depositing the rover Deadalus in an asperity leading to the tunnels, now cold and hollow. In a report published on its site on February 25, 2022, the space agency exposed the details of the hypothetical mission, even specifying the entry point of Daedalus. The rover could penetrate the bowels of the Moon through the chasm of Marius Hills, located in the ocean of Storms.
The robotic crane (RoboCrane) to lower the cave explorer (Daedalus) into a lunar pit.© ESA
Daedalus’ instruments would allow engineers to obtain valuable information about the Moon’s geological history, as well as map the network of tunnels extending through the lunar crust.
Study the Moon from all angles
At first glance, Daedalus’ mission will be of a geological nature with a study of these still unexplored tunnels. The rover will be able to perform modeling 3D of the places visited, or even stratigraphies of the walls of cooled lava. By sinking into the meanders of the lunar crust, Daedalus will be able to assess the temperatures and the level of radiation in the tunnels. These elements will allow researchers to have a vision of the history and evolution of the Moon.
But these lunar robot projects also benefit from the impulse initiated in 2017 by the United States to send human crews back to explore the plains of regolith. Thus, Daedalus could also indicate to terrestrial operators if the basements of the Moon can serve as shelter. Space agencies are considering the possibility of underground habitats to protect astronauts from the radiation fluxes emitted by the Sun.
For now, the mission of RoboCrane and Daedalus remains a distant project. Despite this, the ESA has given dates: the rovers could take off aboard a Ariadne 6 to reach the Moon by 2033.
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