MIT sends new space repair “AstroAnt” to the moon
New England Council member, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recently sent its new thumb-sized “AstroAnt” robot to the south pole of the moon aboard the Athena lunar lander, which was launched from a SpaceX rocket on February 25th.
The single AstroAnt has been sent to the moon with the intent of finding out whether teams of robots will someday be able to repair spaceships like the one it’s riding on. The tiny machines only cost the team $100 to build and have software and radio links that would allow them to act as a swarm and work together. The inspiration for the robots came from a science fiction novel by Neal Stephenson called “Seveneves,” in which masses of tiny helper bots build habitats in space. Similarly, the AstroAnts will be able to patrol the exteriors of lunar probes, satellites, or space stations to spot damage and assist in repairs as well as prevent fuel and air leaks.
“If we can test this one AstroAnt on the moon, then we imagine having these really capable, roving swarms that can help astronauts do autonomous repair, inspection, diagnostics, and servicing … In the future, we could put little windshield wipers on them to help clear dust from solar panels, or put a pounding bar on them to induce tiny vibrations to detect defects in a habitat. There’s a lot of potential once we get to swarm scale,” said Ariel Ekblaw, founder of the MIT Media Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative and leader of the team that built AstroAnt.
The New England Council commends MIT for its innovative efforts to aid in space exploration.
Read more in The Boston Globe and on MIT’s website.