Virtually-controlled rovers to help scouring moon, Mars

Taking samples, digging or assembling on the moon is about to get easier as teleoperated rovers are going to work on the natural satellite with humans controlling the tools from Earth.

The new teleoperated system has been tested at the European Space Agency’s (ESA) European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications at Harwell in Oxfordshire by researchers of the robotics laboratory at the University of Bristol, according to Space.com.

The researchers were able to manipulate a robotic arm of a rover by controlling the virtual simulation of the rover. They then dug up a sample of a pretend lunar regolith called “simulant”.

"This simulation could […] help us operate lunar robots remotely from Earth, avoiding the problem of signal delays," said Bristol's Joe Louca in a statement, as quoted by Space.com.

Interestingly, the teleoperator specifically designed for moon, can also be functional for Martian missions.

"In the next decade we're going to see several crewed and uncrewed missions to the moon, such as Nasa's Artemis program and China's Chang'e program," said Louca. "This simulation could be a valuable tool to support preparation or operation for these missions."

The virtual simulant also gives the user a sense of touch giving the teleoperators an idea of how much force they need to dig or lift up a sample in a scoop.

The new system can also be used to train astronauts for missions to the moon. It could give them an idea of what to expect from the environment of the space.

"We can adjust how strong gravity is in this model, and provide haptic feedback, so we could give astronauts a sense of how moon dust would feel and behave in lunar conditions — which has a sixth of the gravitational pull of the Earth," said Louca.

Moreover, upon observation, Louca’s team found that the teleoperator was efficient 100% of the time while scooping up regolith simulant while it was trustworthy 92.5% of the time.