The flat, round robot from MIT harnesses the natural electric field of the Moon to fly, consuming very little energy during operation.
A team of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a new exploration robot with a unique round shape that hovers using the natural electric field of the Moon, as reported by Interesting Engineering on December 21.
Exploration robot design resembling a flying saucer hovering on the lunar surface. (Photo: MIT)
The new robot takes advantage of the fact that airless celestial bodies like the Moon and asteroids generate electric fields through direct contact with the Sun and surrounding plasma. Such robots could be used for surface reconnaissance missions on the Moon or nearby asteroids.
On a large celestial body like the Moon, the surface charge is strong enough to power flying devices. In fact, the surface charge has been shown to cause lunar dust to hover at a height of about one meter.
The flying saucer-shaped robot developed by the MIT team utilizes ultra-small ion beams to charge and enhance the natural surface charge. These small ion thrusters, known as liquid ion sources, are connected to a tank containing an ion solution in the form of salt melted at room temperature. When the charge reaches the ion solution, the ions become charged and are expelled from the robot in beams through the thrusters. The disc shape optimizes the thrust between the robot and the ground, meaning it requires very little energy.
“This special design uses very little energy to generate a high voltage. Because the energy required is so small, the robot can operate almost for free,” said Paulo Lozano, a co-author of the research.
Initial experiments by the research team have shown that enhancing ions strong enough to lift a small robot weighing about 0.9 kg on the Moon and even larger asteroids like 16 Psyche is feasible.
“We envision using robots similar to those in Japan’s Hayabusa mission. The Hayabusa spacecraft operates around a small asteroid and deploys robots onto its surface. Similarly, we think a future spacecraft could deploy small hovering robots to explore the surface of the Moon and other asteroids,” said Oliver Jia-Richards, the lead author of the study and an expert in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT.
Exploring asteroids and remote areas of the Moon could yield significant benefits. For instance, in 2020, NASA estimated that asteroid 16 Psyche could contain about $10 quintillion worth of metals. NASA’s Artemis missions, aimed at returning humans to the Moon by 2025, will also need to extract materials from the lunar surface to maintain a long-term human presence.
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