NASA’s RASSOR (Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot) was lately examined on simulated lunar soil at Kennedy Space Center’s Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations LabThe excavator is constructed to dig and haul Moon-like regolith, getting ready know-how for sustained lunar missions. On May 27, NASA mechanical engineer Ben Burdess noticed RASSOR’s counterrotating bucket drums churn by the soil simulant and carve a three-foot berm. This trial focuses on RASSOR’s digging drums and straight informs improvement of NASA’s next-generation Moon-mining excavator, the In-Situ Resource Utilization Pilot Excavator (IPEx)
RASSOR’s Counterrotating Drums and Regolith Excavation
According to NASA’s official web site, every of RASSOR’s arms carries a bucket drum that spins in the other way of its mate. Engineers observe that this opposing rotation provides RASSOR additional traction even in weak gravity. In the Kennedy lab take a look at, these counterrotating drums anchored the robotic into the simulant and successfully dug soil – proof that RASSOR can grip and transfer regolith reliably on the Moon. With that traction, RASSOR can dig, load, haul and dump free soil.
The collected regolith can then be processed into hydrogen, oxygen and water, sources vital to sustaining astronauts on the Moon. In quick, the take a look at confirmed RASSOR successfully excavating lunar soil simulant whereas its drum design demonstrated how future machines can function within the Moon’s low gravity.
Toward the Moon with IPEx Excavator
NASA engineers say this RASSOR take a look at was primarily to examine the bucket-drum design slated for the In-Situ Resource Utilization Pilot Excavator (IPEx). RASSOR serves as a prototype for IPEx, which will likely be much more autonomous and succesful.
IPEx is engineered as a mixed bulldozer and dump-truck robotic that may mine and transport massive volumes of lunar soil. Ultimately, IPEx will dig up regolith and feed it into on-site processing models to extract oxygen, water and gasoline from the Moon’s soil. Using these native sources is a cornerstone of NASA’s technique for supporting a sustained human presence on the Moon and finally Mars.
