ANTARIKSA — Peregrine Mission One from Astrobiotic was launched on the Vulcan Centaur rocket on Monday, January 8 2023, this afternoon. Of the many government and commercial science loads it carries, five tiny Mexican robots are among them.
The five autonomous micro robots will be deployed on the extreme lunar surface. They will then work in groups to carry out the COLEMNA Mission to which they were sent.
The five tiny moons were developed by the Special Instruments Laboratory (LINX) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). A total of 25 students were involved in making it. The rover is only 10 centimeters in diameter and weighs 60 grams.
Each robot is equipped with wheels, sensors and computers that allow them to study the moon’s thin atmosphere. On its website, LINX calls COLEMNA its most ambitious mission.
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Once Peregrine lands on the lunar surface, it will release its remaining fuel and allow it to dissipate. Then, he will deploy the main exploration robot he brought.
Once completed, COLEMNA robots will scatter them onto the lunar surface via small catapults that will throw them into the lunar regolith. From there, the microbots will experiment with autonomous robots’ ability to survive in abrasive lunar regolith, which can damage many surfaces it comes into contact with.
“The COLEMNA robot will enable analysis of the feasibility of building structures on the planet’s surface using swarms of self-organizing robots,” said LINX.
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According to Mexico Now, COLEMNA’s small robots are capable of gathering together and even connecting with each other to form larger solar arrays. Mexican politicians praised the mission because it could help Mexico as a space exploration nation.
Hidalgo Governor Omar Fayad said COLMENA highlights all of UNAM’s values and gives Mexicans a new way of seeing and understanding the modern world. It helps reassure them that anything is possible.
“That we can push past our own limits. This will be a turning point and, when it happens, all the children and teenagers of Mexico will know it. Maybe this will inspire the next astronaut or the next mission leader,” he said.
Also read: Ignoring Navajo Nation Protests, Funeral Company on the Moon: We don’t want to be dictated by religion
Source: Space.com
2024-01-08 12:38:00
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