The European Space Agency (ESA) traveled to Mount Etna in Sicily to replicate the conditions of a mission to the Moon. Objective: to test robots and equipment that might be used to explore the Earth’s natural satellite in the coming years.
On the black soil of the Sicilian volcano, a robot takes its first steps. The machine observes this unknown environment and transmits information to its twin. Equipped with a bionic hand, its artificial intelligence tells it which samples of lunar soil to take, for example by choosing a stone.
Similar conditions
Etna reproduces the real conditions of a lunar mission, as explained by Alin Albu Schäffer, of the robotics department of the German space agency, in the 7:30 p.m. of the RTS on Friday. “The composition of the soil and the intensity of the light are identical”, he specifies.
The robots are remotely controlled with radio communications. The team is a little further away, in a hotel room in Catania. During a real mission, the control would be carried out on a lunar gateway, or on the future orbital station.
Engineers and scientists from the European Space Agency are testing other rovers and instruments in real conditions, which will be flown to the Moon. Example: a network of radio telescopes which, from Etna, has already picked up frequencies from Jupiter.
“We can hide the radio telescopes on the far side of the Moon. It is the quietest radio location in the solar system and therefore it does not receive terrestrial radiation”, details astronomer and astrophysicist Bernard Foing.
To “stay there”
The goal of all these experiments is the next ESA lunar mission which might start in 2024. We want to stay there for long periods of time and the next step will be Mars,” says former astronaut Thomas Reiter.
On Etna, the German must learn to drive and handle the Interact rover 23 kilometers away. A haptic device allows him to remotely feel everything the robot touches.
“The man is fantastic. With our eyes, our senses, the touch, we can easily decide what is the best decision, the best path to take. But from a distance, when we look through a camera, it’s not so simple. That’s why we have to be prepared”, says Thomas Reiter.
A Swiss project
Nearly 53 years following Neil Armstrong’s first steps, these strange creatures might return to the Moon before 2028. The ETHZ jumping robot project might also be part of the ESA mission.
“With our robots, we think we might go places other machines can’t go, for example in lava craters, or on very steep terrain,” says Hendrik Kolvenbach, from the robotics laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich.
On Etna, the lunar mission already seems to be a reality. These are small robot steps that certainly move humanity forward.
TV Subject: Valerie Dupont
Web adaptation: Jérémie Favre
