NASA Is Creating a New Breed of Robots

Image comment: NASA also collaborates with the private sector for its robots. Seen here is Robonaut2, a project the agency developed in cooperation with General Motors

Image credits: NASA

Although Project Constellation, the American space agency's approach to returning human astronauts to the Moon, appears to have failed, NASA says that space exploration will not only continue, but also accelerate in the near future. For this very purpose, engineers are currently working hard on developing a new class of explorations robots that may replace fragile instruments such as existing rovers and orbiters. The mechanical explorers of the future will have multiple abilities, and will endure for longer, despite the harsh conditions they are expected to find at their respective destinations, Space reports.

The new plan NASA has for space exploration, while sacking the “manned” portion, is more daring than ever. The agency plans to send robots to the Moon and Mars, the stated goals of the US space program, but also to a host of near-Earth objects (NEO). All of this will be done in the near future, with the express purpose of paving the way for human explorers to come. The 2011 budget proposal US President Barack Obama set forth this year features funding for two such missions.

One of those missions will begin next year, and will focus on giving experts in Earth-based control centers, or on the International Space Station (ISS), the ability to control robotic expeditions on the Moon. While they're at it, experts hope to test groundbreaking new technologies on our planet's natural satellite, such as mining water-ice. This resource could allow for the production of, well, water, oxygen for artificial air, hydrogen fuel for rockets and so on. All of this could be done automatically, so that incoming astronauts would find an already-established based when they arrive.

“Trying to do mining operations autonomously in a remote location and under extremely difficult conditions represents a huge challenge. But we're up to the task,” says NASA In-Situ Resource Utilization Project manager, Gerald Sanders. “The area where NASA could perhaps lead – an area which could affect society greatly – is robotics. NASA is doing amazing things in both robotics and human exploration assisted by all kinds of autonomous systems,” adds the new technology guru at NASA, Robert Braun. He is a robotics expert and an aerospace engineer, who over the years provided valuable insight for the teams constructing Mars-bound landers and rovers.