AI Spider Robots Heading To Moon To Explore Lunar Surface

A London-based startup has unveiled its plans to send spider robots to the Moon to explore its hard-to-reach places. According to the company, the robots, which are basically lunar rovers with legs, will be launched to the Moon in about two years.

Spacebit is the latest private company to join the commercial space race to the Moon and beyond. In one of their debut projects, the company is targeting to send cube-shaped robots equipped with four legs to the lunar surface.

Spacebit’s CEO Pavlo Tanasyuk made the announcement during the recent International Astronautical Congress held in Washington. According to the company official, the robots, which cost about $3 million each and weigh about 2.2 pounds, are equipped with legs instead of wheels like in traditional rovers.

Tanasyuk noted that the innovative design of the spider-looking robots will allow them to maneuver across uneven surfaces on the Moon more easily than wheeled rovers.

"We don't have wheels – we have four legs instead of the wheels – which is a very neat design,” he said during the conference, according to Space.com.

For Spacebit’s upcoming mission to the Moon, the company is planning on deploying a total of eight robots on the lunar surface. These machines will be transported to a designated drop-off point on the Moon by a rover. According to Tanasyuk, the spider robots will have artificial intelligence and will move in a swarm to explore various areas including lunar caves and crevices.

Spacebit’s spider robots will serve as the payload of the Peregrine lunar lander of U.K.-based company Astrobotics. The lander will be launched via the Vulcan Centaur rocket sometime in July 2021.

The upcoming mission is being regarded as a historical event since it will mark the first time that a payload from the U.K. will be deployed on the Moon.

“We could not be more excited to fly this mission with Astrobotic,” Tanasyuk said in a statement. “This mission will result in the first payload from the UK to reach the Moon surface and mark the beginning of a new era in commercial space exploration for Britain.”