LunaRoo – A hopping Lunar science platform

Robotics for the moon

Project dates: 03/01/2016 - 08/01/2019

Why it matters

As we continue to extend our reach into outer-space, it becomes increasingly mandatory that systems become cheaper. The recent Mars rover cost nearly 2.5 billion. To increase the pace of cost reduction we see in industries, a group called Part Time Scientists created a Google lunar XPrize, which is offering 30 million dollars in contracts to teams that are able to develop low cost data acquisition methods. The Lunaroo, designed by RAS at the Queensland University of Technology, was started as a proposal for the challenge.

Objectives

The LunaRoo is a hopping robot designed to exploit the Moon’s lower gravity to leap up to 20m above the surface. It is compact enough to fit within a 10cm cube, whilst providing unique observation and mission capabilities.

Project Milestones

The LunaRoo is a hopping robot designed to exploit the Moon’s lower gravity to leap up to 20m above the surface. It is compact enough to fit within a 10cm cube, whilst providing unique observation and mission capabilities.

  1. Dec 2014: Project Start
  2. Sep 2016: Vision Prototype
  3. Dec 2016: Hopper Prototype

Publications

  • Designing a Robotic Hopping Cube for Lunar Exploration. (2016) Tim Hojnik, Robert Lee, Donald Dansereau, Jürgen Leitner.
  • LunaRoo: Designing a Hopping Lunar Science Payload. (2016) Jürgen Leitner, W. Chamberlain, D. Dansereau, M. Dunbabin, M. Eich, T. Peynot, J. Roberts, R. Russell, N. Sünderhauf.

Media


Other Team Members

  • Dr Juxi Leitner (Lyro)

To withstand the harsh temperatures of the moon, all electronics have to be able to withstand -153 to 123 degrees C