As we already wrote a few days ago, the launch of the first soft lunar landing apparatus from the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) was successfully carried out on September 6 along with the cosmic beam spectrometer Xrism.
A mission called Slim (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) is aimed at studying the lunar surface. However, the agency plans to raise the recently grounded device back to the sky and bring it to the lunar orbit, the journey to which will take, by the way, up to four months. After that, the device will spend for about a month, exploring the place of landing in Shioli crater directly from orbit.
When this stage of the space mission is passed, Slim will lower another apparatus called lunar Excursion to the surface of the moon. Vehicle 2 (LEV-2), also known under the commercial name “Sora-Q”. The device is a spherical robot with a diameter of about 8 cm and weighing about 250 g. It is equipped with two cameras and can change its shape for movement on the surface of the moon.
Промо-video from one of the co-authors of the innovative robot
According to Hirano Daychi, a senior researcher of the Innovation Center in the field of space research of Japan, an unusual robot was developed in collaboration with the manufacturer of TOMY children’s toys, which ensured a “stable and safe design” of the robot, as well as the technical company Sony, which provided the latest achievements in the field video setting.
In case of successful completion of the mission, JAXA engineers hope to use the method of soft lunar landing for larger devices, including maneuvering people. Scientists believe that thanks to this technology in the future they will