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Testing AstroAnts for the IM2 Lunar Mission

Watch this video to learn more about the AstroAnt rover being tested in Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands. The test is part of the MIT Media Lab’s collaboration with Castrol and in preparation for the IM2 lunar mission.

Learn more  about testing the AstroAnt Payload Program.

Topics:
Aerospace Automation Autonomy Robotics Test & Measurement

More From SAE Media Group

    Transcript

    00:00:01 [Music] Dava: All of this is kind of a a dress rehearsal. We need to test, test, test, there's no substitution for testing our technology in these really harsh environmental conditions. Cody: Extreme environments are obviously extreme,

    00:00:15 they're very difficult to work in and they make us test the limits of every piece of equipment. Dava: But to really accelerate progress and to get the technology progress that we need, and to get it going faster, that's where the private

    00:00:30 sector comes in. Cody: So Castrol has actually been collaborating with us on the AstroAnt research that is going to the Moon in 2024. They have a space-grade lubricant that's making sure that those itty bitty little AstroAnt wheels

    00:00:45 are going to keep going in that really extreme environment on the lunar surface. Castrol has also collaborated with the research that we're doing here in Lanzarote where they've supported our research in this

    00:00:56 incredible lava tube where we are testing all of these different components of what we're going to be doing on the lunar surface. Dava: No substitution and there's no shortcuts for testing our technology

    00:01:09 every night, every day, something breaks, we go and fix our technology. We have new scientific questions to answer. You're exploring. Cody: I think space exploration is all about hope. We hope that there's, you know maybe, something

    00:01:24 else alive out there. We hope that we can go and see a new planet and explore and be somewhere new. Dava: All of our exploration- really we have three simple questions, but there big questions, you know is there life elsewhere? Are there other habitable planets

    00:01:40 and when are we going to find life? And I think it's probably in this next decade that we'll have the evidence, the scientific evidence for life elsewhere than Earth. Cody: I hope that what we do here and what we're doing with the data that we're collecting on the

    00:01:54 lunar surface will help to bring the rest of those people into that hopeful space as well. Dava: Space teaches us about Earth and how we can live together, hopefully how we can live better together, and it also opens up our minds to the wondrous exploration of not just our

    00:02:12 solar system but future galaxies beyond. [Music]