The Power Tower rover will land on the moon by 2025

A “charger” rover that can power robots exploring the shadowed craters at the moon’s south pole will join an expanding lunar infrastructure by 2025.

The world’s space agencies have grandiose plans for exploration month performed by both robots and humans. By the end of this decade a the space station will orbit the Earth’s natural satellite and a permanent base station near the moon’s south pole will be built soon after, if all goes according to plan

Permanently shadowed craters in the vicinity of the South Pole are of particular interest to scientists as their pristine interiors may hold evidence Solar systemthe past

But since the sun’s rays never reach the interior of these craters, the rovers that explore them must rely on the limited power of their on-board batteries. To provide a constant source of power for these future lunar rovers, Toronto-based startup STELLS SPACE plans to land a “power supply” rover on the moon by 2025 that can transfer power to a crater to recharge robotic scientists.

On the topic: NASA is mapping out goals to guide space exploration from the Moon to Mars.

“It is widely apparent that survival on the lunar surface is difficult due to the harsh environmental conditions,” STELLS said in an emailed statement. “All future missions to the Moon face one major limitation — power. At STELLS, we took this idea of ​​having an outlet and started looking at how we already do our daily tasks of charging our devices here on Earth.”

The rover placed a “charging cube” inside the crater, then parked on the edge of the crater and deployed solar panels against the sun. It will transmit the generated electricity via a cable to a charging cube inside the crater, where research rovers will be able to connect to it via a wireless network and get the “juice” they need.

“Mobile Power Rover 1 (MPR-1) will charge a fee to other lunar explorers who install a STELLS lightweight wireless receiving coil or already have a third-party coil,” STELLS said in a statement. “This project aims to make lunar exploration a significant step toward the ultimate goal of a long-term stay on the moon.”

The company plans to place a 66-pound (30-kilogram) rover on board the lunar surface. Intuitive machinesNova-C lander by 2025.

The company added that wireless charging will work well in the vacuum of space. To increase the reliability of the technology, the company uses components designed for rovers, geostationary satellites and deep space probes.

Other private companies, as well as space agencies, are currently developing technology that will help create a permanent infrastructure ecosystem on and around the Moon for optimized human and robotic exploration. For example, in 2020, NASA signed a contract with the Finnish telecommunications company NOKIA to create an LTE/4G communication system on the moon. Columbus, Ohio-based pH Matters has received funding to develop regenerative fuel cells capable of producing and storing energy on the lunar surface, and Madison, Wisconsin-based Sierra Nevada Corporation is working on a demonstration device that uses methane and concentrated solar energy. extract oxygen from the lunar regolith. The European Space Agency, meanwhile, is leading the development of a lunar satellite navigation system which will extend the reach of GPS satellites to the Moon.

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