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NASA's RASSOR (Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot) has recently been tested on artificial lunar soil at Kennedy Space Center's Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations Lab. The excavator is designed to excavate and move Moon-like regolith, developing technologies for long-term lunar missions. On May 27, NASA mechanical engineer Ben Burdess witnessed RASSOR's counterrotating bucket drums churn through the soil simulant, carving a three-foot mound. This experiment focuses on RASSOR's digging drums and directly influences development of NASA's next-generation lunar mining excavator, the In-Situ Resource Utilization Pilot Excavator (IPEx).
RASSOR's Counterrotating Drums and Regolith Excavation
According to NASA's official website, each of RASSOR's arms bears a bucket drum that spins in the opposite direction as the other. Engineers observe that this opposing spin provides RASSOR with more traction even in low gravity conditions. In the Kennedy lab test, the counterrotating drums fixed the robot to the simulant and efficiently excavated dirt, demonstrating that RASSOR can dependably grasp and move regolith on the Moon. With this traction, RASSOR can dig, load, carry, and dump loose dirt.
The gathered regolith may subsequently be processed to produce hydrogen, oxygen, and water, all of which are essential resources for humans on the Moon. under brief, the test confirmed that RASSOR efficiently excavated lunar soil simulant, and its drum design indicated how future machines may work under the Moon's low gravity.
Toward the Moon with the IPEx Excavator
According to NASA engineers, the primary purpose of this RASSOR test was to validate the bucket-drum design for the In-Situ Resource Utilization Pilot Excavator (IPEx). RASSOR serves as a prototype for IPEx, which will be significantly more self-sufficient and competent.
IPEx is designed as a bulldozer and dump-truck robot that can dig and transport vast amounts of lunar dirt. Finally, IPEx will excavate regolith and feed it into on-site processing units to extract oxygen, water, and fuel from the Moon's soil. Using these indigenous resources is a key component of NASA's strategy for maintaining a long-term human presence on the Moon and eventually Mars.
