This final organized by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Space Resources Innovation Center (ESRIC) allowed engineers to submit vehicle prototypes capable of prospecting for resources on the Moon. Luxembourg is a small country in terms of area but it is a giant in space exploration, by far the leading contributor to the European Space Agency. Saturday, September 9, the 5 finalists completed this challenge on which they have been working hard for several months. To celebrate the event Mathias Maurer the Sarrois astronaut was present.
– Alexandre Mottot
Very Different Robots
Some roll and others walk on the model of robot dogs. The machines are in any case all programmed to try to discern certain mineral elements deemed essential. Michelle Faragalli is chief technology officer at the start-up Mission Control Space Services. His team in Canada is participating in the competition virtually. He has no information on the locations of the riches to be found, but his ambition remains to find water on the Moon, water in order to perpetuate the human presence there. Equipped with wheels, his machine sends data and readings “to win it is necessary above all that the machines are able to establish plans of presence of the elements sought“he assures.
Its robot is controlled by a simple internet connection but its main asset is its analytical capacity thanks to a Artificial intelligence that identifies resources, but which also avoids latency periods between the order and the execution of this order. “we don’t like playing a video game if it takes 5 seconds to get an effect“.
“The objective is to bring companies to the Moon”
– Alexandre Mottot
A different machine for the SNT of the University of Luxembourg, they have chosen to combine several machines, a small one very mobile and a larger one, “Leo Rovers”. For the challenge they managed to find titanium and ilmenite, a mineral species consisting of an iron and titanium oxide. Its asset is the realization ofa cloud of survey points to create a 3D plan. According to Gabriel Garcia the issue is no longer just scientific, the idea is to bring manufacturers to the moon to transform the resources into metal, which would be made on site. So there is no need to bring the minerals back to Earth, the Moon then becomes the forward base to the rest of space.
From space exploration to space exploitation
In the former iron and steel basin of Esch sur Alzette, the huge blast furnaces are a reminder of the industrial challenges involved. “there will be no blast furnaces on the moon” warns Matthias Maurer with a smile. But there will be industrial systems for transform resources directly on site less polluting than in the past. His idea is to avoid irreversible drifts in terms of pollution such as we have known them in Luxembourg, Lorraine or Saarland.
A concern confirmed by Elodie Viau, director of telecommunications and applications at the European Space Agency. The exploitation will be done in moderation and with increased ethics. Moreover, the Europeans are not the only ones to raise their eyes in the direction of the Moon, the other space nations have similar ambitions. The Luxembourg Labor Minister Dan Kersch came to replace the Minister of the Economy. A way of signifying the importance of the stakes of the transition from exploration to exploitation space for the Grand Duchy. The Minister recalls that he is from Esch and that the blast furnaces are the landscapes of his childhood. In any case in his eyes the joint promises of industry and science are worth the colossal investments made by the Grand Duchy.
Moreover, the Europeans are not the only ones to raise their eyes in the direction of the Moon, the other space nations have similar ambitions. The operation has already begun, the Americans have succeeded in extracting oxygen from Mars. Matthias Link the director of the Luxembourg Space Agency explains that researchers from ESA and ESRIC (European Center for Space Resource Innovation) are working on lunar regolith-based oxygen extraction, rock rich in sodium, magnesium, titanium, or iron… whose samples brought back to Earth prove that the majority element is oxygen, around 45%.
The robots therefore open a way, before the permanent installation of humans on the Moon. Saarland astronaut Mathias Maurer volunteers for future lunar missions. A presence of one month (not more because of the radiation) would be the continuity of exploration by means of robots.
As for the winner of the competition, the data is being evaluated before determining the winner.