NASA calls on everyone to help improve the moon digger

Sometimes it seems that NASA has a crisis of ideas and personnel suitable for the Artemis lunar mission. Initially, the space agency discovered a set of astronauts who could fly to the moon. After that, he called on students and schoolchildren to cooperate, offering huge grants and technical support. Now NASA is asking everyone to help improve the RASSOR digger.

For a long stay of a person on a satellite, minerals are needed. In Earth conditions, you can use the usual pickaxe. On the moon, astronauts will have uncomfortable spacesuits that exclude physical labor. This is where the RASSOR robot, capable of digging soil, comes in handy. He will supply the lunar base with water, digging blocks of ice inside the rock.

In order to understand whether RASSOR is effective in lunar conditions, a special camera was built on Earth, which confirmed that it did not have enough weight and traction for digging. As the researchers explained, the whole point is reduced gravity on the moon. NASA engineers have assembled a new design that can hold itself while digging the soil. To do this, the buckets located in the front and rear of the rover, first collect the soil, rotating in one direction, and then throw it away, spinning in the other direction. This allows you to balance forces so that RASSOR remains in place. But because of this, he simply digs deeper into the ground.

To solve the problem, the agency invited everyone to participate in improving the design of RASSOR. Applications for the RASSOR Bucket Drum Design Challenge will be completed on April 20. Anyone who wants to help in the conquest of the moon will have to study the technical documentation, which imposes strict requirements on the width of the scoops, the mass of the drum, the diameter, length and volume of the various parts of the robot, as well as the practicality of the design.