Tiny, simple moon rovers will bring cubesat science to the lunar surface
By Meghan Bartels 12 hours ago
An artist's depiction of the Iris rover on the moon.
(Image: © Carnegie Mellon University)
Cubesats have revolutionized orbital science, and a roving counterpart may soon do the same for surface science, beginning on the moon.
Next year, as part of NASA's lunar delivery orchestrated by the Pennsylvania-based company Astrobotic, the agency will launch a small rover to begin that revolution. That rover is called Iris and is the first of a new, small and simple design called CubeRovers to hearken back to cubesats. These orbital predecessors are small, semi-standardized spacecraft that are cheap to build and launch.
NASA, Astrobotic and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh are all taking part in the CubeRover project targeting a 2021 launch date as part of the agency's overall Artemis program, which aims to land humans on the moon in 2024. However, Iris would fly on a private delivery run, rather than an Artemis mission launched by NASA.
"For such a tiny rover, Iris has a big mission to lead America back to the moon, and I'm so proud to lead this team of passionate students who are paving the way for future planetary robotic exploration," Raewyn Duvall, deputy program manager for Iris and a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon, said in a statement. "We're all excited for Iris's launch, to drive a rover on the lunar surface, and to see what we can discover!"
More:
https://www.space.com/cubesat-model-for-moon-rovers.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
