NASA recently selected Astrobotic Technology and Carnegie Mellon University for a pair of contracts to study Moon excavation robots and methods to simulate lunar gravity on Earth.

                     

The goal of this research is to be able to deploy excavating robots on the Moon to recover water and/or hydrocarbon resources under the topmost layers of the Moon's surface, potentially yielding material for rocket propellant and life support supplies.
 

 

(image by Mark Maxwell)

NASA's recent Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission indicated that there was water in a permanently shadowed lunar crater, confirming some scientists' hypotheses.

 

According to the agency, the water content in the polar soil is 10 to 30 times richer than previously thought, and relatively accessible, thus the excavators.

 

"We intend our robots to be prospectors for water and hydrocarbon resources, and then to demonstrate how they can be turned into rocket propellant and life support supplies," said Dr. William "Red" Whittaker, founder of Astrobotic Technology and a research professor at the university's Robotics Institute. "Creating propellant at the Moon will halve the cost of lunar exploration and advance the date when we can send human expeditions to Mars."