The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has teamed up with Sony, Doshisha University, and toymaker Tomy to send a transforming rover roughly the size of a baseball to the Moon. What a time to be alive, amirite?
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has teamed up with Sony, Doshisha University, and toymaker Tomy to send a transforming rover roughly the size of a baseball to the Moon. What a time to be alive, amirite? And this little bot has a huge responsibility: It’ll gather comprehensive data about the lunar surface so that JAXA’s crewed rover, set to launch in 2029, can get around. To further develop the autonomous driving technology and cruising technology that the rover will use on its voyage, JAXA needs to study the potential impacts of the Moon’s gravity, which is one-sixth of that on Earth, and the layer of regolith, aka Moon dirt, that covers its surface, the agency said in an announcement this week first spotted by The Byte.
