If the surface Moon is criss-crossed by devices robotic And men For more than 60 years, the underground passage of our natural satellite has never been traced. European Space Agency (esa) published sent Declaring on March 16 that the institution is working on an underground exploration project for the Moon.

ESA wants to develop two robots Which would be able to grow in the cavities created in different places of the lunar soil: Robocrane and Daedalus. It aims to collect viable data on the environment of the Moon’s inner layers in parallel with the Artemis mission.

robot under the moon

According to ESA, crust The Moon will extend to about 50 km, which is dotted with craters and tunnels, The latter formed when the Moon was experiencing intense geological activity more than 3 billion years ago. At that time, the waves of Washing The European Space Agency now wants to dig the tunnels it wants to explore.

ESA began preparations for such an operation in 2019 as part of the mission concurrent design feature (CFD). Therefore the deployment of two robots will be required for the future European Large Logistics Lander 3 (EL3), which is only at the project level. Robocrane will be responsible for depositing Nomad Daedalus in a meander leading to the tunnels, which is now cold and hollow. In a report published on its site on February 25, 2022, the space agency uncovered details of the hypothetical mission, specifying Daedalus’s entry point. could enter the bowels of the moon via rover the chasm Marius Hills is located in the ocean of storm,

Daedalus’ instruments will allow engineers to map the network of tunnels that extend through the lunar crust, while also gaining valuable information about the moon’s geological history.

Study the Moon from all angles

At first glance, Daedalus’s mission would be of a geological nature, with the study of these still-unexplored tunnels. the rover will be able to perform modeling Stratigraphy of 3D locations visited, or even walls of cold lava. By plunging into the meanders of the lunar crust, Daedalus will be able to assess the temperature and radiation levels in the tunnels. These elements will allow researchers to have a vision History and Evolution of the Moon,

But these lunar robot projects also benefit from an impulse launched by the United States in 2017 to send human crews back to explore the plains. regolith, Thus, Daedalus may also signal to terrestrial operators if the Moon’s basement can serve as a shelter, Space agencies are considering the possibility of underground habitats to protect astronauts from the radiation flux emitted by the Sun.

For now, the mission of Robocrane and Daedalus remains a distant project. Despite this, ESA has given dates: the rovers can board a Ariadne 6 To reach the moon by 2033.