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The Astrobotic CubeRover traverses the terrain in the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations Laboratory regolith bin at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 10, 2020. The regolith bin simulates the mechanical properties of the Moon’s surface. NASA and Astrobotic employees put the CubeRover through a series of more than 150 mobility tests over several days to evaluate and improve wheel design. (Credits: NASA/Kim Shiflett)
by Linda Herridge
NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center
Researchers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida recently put a new, small robotic rover through its paces inside a 120-ton bin of regolith rock and dust that simulates the lunar surface.
PITTSBURGH (Astrobotic PR) Astrobotic’s CubeRover successfully completed more than 150 mobility tests inside a 120-ton enclosure designed to mimic the surface of the Moon. These tests will further inform the final wheel design of all three sizes of the scalable CubeRover line.
Because CubeRovers are smaller than any rover that has operated on the lunar surface, only estimates from prior NASA missions with large rovers could inform initial engineering efforts. With eleven sets of wheels to test, the Astrobotic crew headed to NASA Kennedy Space Center’s (KSC) to conduct maneuverability and traction force testing on the lunar dust simulant.