In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) is one of the key technologies for enabling sustainable access to the Moon. The ability to excavate lunar regolith is the first step in making lunar resources accessible and usable. This work presents the development of a bucket drum for the modular robotic system MoonBot, as part of the Japanese Moonshot program. A 3D-printed prototype made of PLA was manufactured to evaluate its efficiency through a series of sandbox tests. The resulting tool weighs 4.8 kg and has a volume of 14.06 L. It is capable of continuous excavation at a rate of 777.54 kg/h with a normalized energy consumption of 0.022 Wh/kg. In batch operation, the excavation rate is 172.02 kg/h with a normalized energy consumption of 0.86 Wh per kilogram of excavated material. The obtained results demonstrate the successful implementation of the concept. A key advantage of the developed tool is its compatibility with the modular MoonBot robotic platform, which enables flexible and efficient mission planning. Further improvements may include the integration of sensors and an autonomous control system to enhance the excavation process.

Missions such as the Ingenuity helicopter have shown the advantages of using novel locomotion modes to increase the scientific return of planetary exploration missions. Legged robots can further expand the reach and capability of future planetary missions by traversing more difficult terrain than wheeled rovers, such as jumping over cracks on the ground or traversing rugged terrain with boulders. To develop and test algorithms for using quadruped robots, the AAPLE project was carried out at DFKI. As part of the project, we conducted a series of field experiments on the Volcano on the Aeolian island of Vulcano, an active stratovolcano near Sicily, Italy. The experiments focused on validating newly developed state-of-the-art adaptive optimal control algorithms for quadrupedal locomotion in a high-fidelity analog environment for Lunar and Martian surfaces. This paper presents the technical approach, test plan, software architecture, field deployment strategy, and evaluation results from the Vulcano campaign.

The European Moon Rover System (EMRS) Pre-Phase A activity is part of the European Exploration Envelope Programme (E3P) that seeks to develop a versatile surface mobility solution for future lunar missions. These missions include: the Polar Explorer (PE), In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), and Astrophysics Lunar Observatory (ALO) and Lunar Geological Exploration Mission (LGEM). Therefore, designing a multipurpose rover that can serve these missions is crucial. The rover needs to be compatible with three different mission scenarios, each with an independent payload, making flexibility the key driver. This study focuses on modularity in the rover's locomotion solution and autonomous on-board system. Moreover, the proposed EMRS solution has been tested at an analogue facility to prove the modular mobility concept. The tests involved the rover's mobility in a lunar soil simulant testbed and different locomotion modes in a rocky and uneven terrain, as well as robustness against obstacles and excavation of lunar regolith. As a result, the EMRS project has developed a multipurpose modular rover concept, with power, thermal control, insulation, and dust protection systems designed for further phases. This paper highlights the potential of the EMRS system for lunar exploration and the importance of modularity in rover design.

This document presents the study conducted during the European Moon Rover System Pre-Phase A project, in which we have developed a lunar rover system, with a modular approach, capable of carrying out different missions with different objectives. This includes excavating and transporting over 200kg of regolith, building an astrophysical observatory on the far side of the Moon, placing scientific instrumentation at the lunar south pole, or studying the volcanic history of our satellite. To achieve this, a modular approach has been adopted for the design of the platform in terms of locomotion and mobility, which includes onboard autonomy, of course. A modular platform allows for accommodating different payloads and allocating them in the most advantageous positions for the mission they are going to undertake (for example, having direct access to the lunar surface for the payloads that require it), while also allowing for the relocation of payloads and reconfiguring the rover design itself to perform completely different tasks.

Today, India's Chandrayaan-3 became the first spacecraft to successfully land near the lunar south pole, and India became the fourth country to make a soft landing anywhere on lunar soil, following the former Soviet Union, the United States, and China. The robotic vehicle touched down at 8:33 Eastern time, nearly six weeks after its launch. The craft includes a four-legged lander and a small rover to study the lunar regolith and look for signs of water ice during a two-week mission. On August 20, the craft malfunctioned and appears to have crashed while preparing for a landing planned for the next day. Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, intended to deploy Luna-25 for a year-long mission near the Boguslavsky impact crater, where its eight scientific instruments would also have examined properties of the regolith and pockets of water ice.

An artificial intelligence agent recently flew a Lockheed Martin VISTA X-62A training aircraft for over 17 hours. VISTA (which stands for Variable In-flight Simulation Test Aircraft) normally uses software to simulate the performance characteristics of other aircraft. US Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) Director of Research Dr. M. Christopher Cotting said in a statement, "VISTA will allow us to parallelize the development and test of cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques with new uncrewed vehicle designs." This is the first time AI has been engaged in such a way on a tactical aircraft, Lockheed says. It's like they've never seen the 2005 box-office bomb, Stealth… Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

NASA has chosen two students as winners of the Lunabotics Junior Contest, a national competition for K-12 students featuring the agency's Artemis missions. Contestants were charged with designing a robot that can dig and move lunar soil, or regolith, from one area of the lunar South Pole to a holding container near a future Artemis Moon base. Fifteen-year-old Shriya Sawant of Cumming, Ga., was the winner from grades 6-12 with her RAD: Regolith Accretion Device design. Nine-year-old Lucia Grisanti from Toms River, N.J., won for grades K-5 with her design of Olympus. Each robot successfully accomplished the task of collecting and transporting regolith across rugged lunar terrain.

We knew Google was readying another phone ahead of its new own-chip Pixel 6 flagships, but the company's cheaper A series might reappear earlier than we thought. The Pixel 5a could appear any day now, according to the latest reports from, of all places, repair shops. The latest rumors include a larger battery (4,680mAh battery up from 3,800mAh) and an August 17th release date -- which would be tomorrow. We're already expecting the Pixel 5a to land with a dual-camera system and a headphone jack, the latter of which is rare in 2021. Older rumors suggested the 5a might cost $450, a hair less than the Pixel 4a 5G but well above the $350 of last year's Pixel 4a.

OSIRIS-REx became the first mission to gather samples from an asteroid in space after it successfully collected rocky "regolith" material from the surface of Bennu. Now, NASA has released several videos showing exactly how that six-second collection process looked, and the best way to describe it is "controlled chaos." NASA prepared for this moment for a long time, as OSIRIS-Rex first started orbiting Bennu in early 2019. It conducted surveys early on that revealed organic carbonaceous material spread widely over Bennu's surface, particularly at the Nightingale site chosen for the sampling process. That gave NASA confidence that it would collect a sample with organic material, which was a central goal of the mission. The sample collection process was a carefully orchestrated dance.

Fine as talcum powder, sharp as glass and seemingly everywhere, these super-fine particles coated the astronauts like soot and permeated their crew cabin, where it became more than a mere nuisance. Not only did it interfere with their equipment, it irritated their nostrils and eyes, giving some a mild allergic reaction. Nevertheless, between 1969 and 1972, Apollo astronauts brought back nearly 385 kilograms of lunar rock, pebbles and powder back to earth. Today, NASA deems interplanetary dust and dirt -- also known as regolith -- one of the greatest risks to long-term space settlements. On the Moon, it wears away at multi-million-dollar instruments and lodges into the slightest crevasses, weakening seals on pressure suits and causing hardware to malfunction.