Recent mission to mars It cost over €2 billion to send the Perseverance rover. It is fitted with wheels specially tuned for the Martian terrain and is expected to withstand the harsh working conditions. Of course, if one of his wheels fails, there are no repair shops around. If the goal is to lower the cost and improve the durability of these missions, it is imperative to start investigating alternatives. The next step in that direction would be prototype robot Developed by the GRASP Institute at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. They named it IceBot because it is basically made of ice. The long-term goal is to develop self-reconfigurable, self-replicating, and self-repairing devices.
The first model was built by hand, but it is already working and can be moved using wheels and a central ice body. Researchers are investigating a variety of additive and subtractive manufacturing techniques, but the most efficient method has proven to be mechanical engraving by drilling holes. One of his suggestions for the team is that two types of robots will be sent on interplanetary exploration missions in the future. First, one robot is responsible for retrieving and collecting manufacturing materials, and a second robot is responsible for installing or repairing ice parts.
Of course, IceBot’s electrical system and connectors will continue to be made of metal alloys. However, the goal is to reduce them to the minimum necessary to minimize irreversible technical issues. The current device weighs 6.3 kilograms and will be tested in Antarctic environments for now. Hopefully, in the future, we will be able to explore planets and asteroids with abundant ice and very cold temperatures.
Robot Balloons, Another Option for Exploration in Harsh Environments
The Soviet Union’s Venera program was intended to explore Venus. The combination of extreme temperatures, sulfuric acid clouds and high pressure posed a major challenge. Thirteen probes had to be sent to capture an image of the planet’s surface. When Venera 13 finally landed successfully, it sent back the first, and so far only, color image. Unfortunately, that lifespan was her just over two hours, the time it took her to succumb to hellish conditions. So, for now, sending a rover like Perseverance to Venus for long-term missions remains an insurmountable challenge. One alternative is to rely on aerial surveys. As such, NASA has just signed a contract with a US company to develop a new model robotic balloon for Venus exploration.
The advantage of balloons is that they are halfway between direct terrestrial exploration and satellites. The new balloon will be designed to deal with hostile atmospheres while providing more detailed analysis than orbiting satellites without compromising the integrity of the device. The idea is to develop a ruggedized balloon with an electronic system that allows it to navigate the Venusian atmosphere autonomously.
If you’d like to learn more about other technologies that could enable exploration and colonization of other planets, check out this article on 3D-printed buildings on Mars, or on using fungi to build buildings that NASA is already considering. I recommend this article.
