After decades of ignoring the lunar surface, NASA and other space agencies are again trying to land on Earth's natural satellite. NASA's Artemis program aims to return humans to the Moon in the next few years, but it's not going to be a quick visit like Apollo. The agency hopes to lay the foundations for a long-term human presence this time, and that means we need to collect data on lunar conditions with modern technology. As part of that initiative, NASA is designing a swarm of semi-autonomous lunar rovers called CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration). After building the first engineering prototypes last year, the agency has full-scale development models online and running tests at JPL's Mars Yard.
The solar-powered robots are designed to be compact and relatively cheap, featuring two stereo cameras, navigation sensors, and a ground-penetrating radar module. They're about the size of a skateboard, and they won't require constant attention at JPL. The CADRE rovers are being designed with short-range mesh networking, allowing them to cooperate to complete a task without human oversight. That's the aspect JPL is currently assessing.
NAS says that two full-scale test rovers have been trundling around the Mars Yard for the last few weeks. JPL set up this location to replicate the surface of Mars for testing Curiosity, Perseverance, and other robots destined for the red planet. However, the sandy pit strewn with pointy rocks is also a good way to test any robot that needs to traverse the harsh surface of another world.
Since they don't need human controllers to make every decision, the team will be able to point the rovers to a region and let them handle all the exploration automatically. The rovers successfully maintained communication as they moved in tandem around the yard. They were able to split tasks between them and adjust their plans when faced with unexpected obstacles. Previously, engineers put the engineering models inside a thermal vacuum chamber to ensure they could withstand the harsh environment on the Moon.
Getting the rovers to the Moon may be the greatest remaining challenge. Since these robots are designed to be advanced scouts, they can't wait for NASA's large-scale Artemis missions with the Space Launch System. CADRE will instead head to the Moon aboard a Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission. The current plan is to send the rovers up with Intuitive Machines 3 (IM-3) in 2025. Unfortunately, that does not guarantee success.
Most recent attempts to land softly on the Moon have failed in one way or another. Intuitive Machines recently flubbed the IM-1 landing, leaving the lander tipped on its side. Japan's SLIM lander also ended up askew, sitting on its nose instead of the landing feet. And then there's CLPS Peregrine lander, which suffered a fuel leak and wasn't even able to reach the Moon. If the CADRE swarm makes it to the surface, NASA expects them to operate for one lunar day, which is about 14 Earth days.
