NASA is developing inertial robots for the study of asteroids

NASA recently announced the launch of a project to create robots for the study of asteroids. In this case, the robots will work on the surface of the asteroid, which entails some difficulties for work.

The fact is that the gravitational force of an asteroid does not make it possible to keep any actively moving tracked, reactive or walking apparatus. A small mistake, a slightly more active push - that's all, the robot flies into space, and there, into the void, hopes are sent to receive information about the asteroid.
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NASA decided to use not the usual wheeled, tracked, walking, and all other types of vehicles, but inertial systems to work on the asteroid. From the side it will look like a rolling cube. It all works like this:



Or like this:



Of course, such inertial systems must be refined in accordance with the conditions of microgravity. By the way, about such a system is used by space telescopes and some other devices operating in space. To change the position in space in such devices flywheels are used. The planned method of moving probes along the surface of an asteroid is not the most accurate method of movement, but rather effective under such conditions.



In addition, there will be no moving parts from the outside of the cube, and very little energy will be consumed. To provide energy inertial cube will be used solar panels placed on the body. In addition, scientific instruments can be built into such a probe, which will study the object using different parameters.

It is planned that such probes, devices, will be simple and not very expensive. They will be delivered to the asteroid by the mother ship, which throws out a group of cubes on reaching the target. Commands for cubes will be transmitted through such a ship.

The current funding, according to the plan, is not intended to bring the project to the final stage - the creation of the final version of the cube. This is still far away. According to NASA's plan, the goal of the project is to bring the TRL ( Technology Readiness Levels ) parameter to 3.5. Now TRL = 2, which means “a formulated technological idea of ​​the project”. Level 3 is already a theoretical and practical proof of the idea's working capacity. Level 4 - the creation of elements of the prototype and the prototype itself, capable of functioning with a modeled environment.



In general, the final stage of the current project is proof of the efficiency of the “jumping cube” idea, with perhaps making some parts of the layout or at least a computer model of the cube.

By the way, the TRL level equal to 8 means the manufacture of a fully functioning system that has already passed all the tests under conditions that are as close as possible to the real ones. Before the flight to the asteroid is still far away, there is a lot of time, so the jumping cube project has all the chances to be realized.

Via ieee