News Summary

• Notably, the three bots explored an analog for the lunar south pole, where Artemis 3 astronauts will eventually land.It may be dangerous for astronauts to venture to certain areas, so robots could be needed to explore perilous territory.
• Robots capable of walking could assist future rovers and mitigate the risk of damage from sharp edges or loss of traction in loose regolith.
• This robot also used another imager to map regions and objects of interest using filters that let through different areas of the light spectrum.
• They were specialized enough for particular tasks but also similar enough to replace each other if one went down.
• During the demonstration, the Scout transmitted its images to a team of planetary scientists and operators who decided which areas were the most viable for exploring.The Scientist model had the advantage of an arm featuring a MIRA (Metrohm Instant Raman Analyzer) and a MICRO (microscopic imager).
• Because they could not operate autonomously, some involvement with human scientists and operators was necessary.Every robot had a LiDAR (light detection and ranging) sensor.