Astronauts Will Test A Lunar Robot Aboard The ISS

Robotic equipment and rovers operate in space largely due to the direction from Earth. Communication between the Earth and other planets via robots always has a certain latency, which is caused by the surrounding signals. For a successful message from Earth to Mars, it will take about 4 to 24 minutes. The lagging time may be detrimental to manual controls. However, this in the future can be improved when the astronauts control the engine remotely from orbit, on Mars or the Moon. 

An experiment named ANALOG-1 is about to take place on the International Space Station, which is conducted by the European Space Agency. The purpose of the experiment is to test the coordination and communication between the astronauts in space and those on the ground, within the process of controlling a rover, which applies new technologies.

Through the experiment, the scientists will evaluate the effectiveness when the astronauts operate rovers in simulated terrain like the Moon while under the influence of micro forces. They will use rovers as the tools to collect as well as analyze soil and rock samples.  

ANALOG-1 belongs to ESA's METERON project, which is an idea to generate and test advanced technologies applied by astronauts while exploring space.

Luca Parmitano is the astronaut who will participate in ESA’s test. He will control a remote rover as well as its arm, using a modern computer system and a joystick called Sigma 7. The test will take 2 hours, on a surface that is simulated like the Moon, located in the Netherlands. According to robot engineer Thomas Krueger, astronauts can identify what robots touch through force feedback from the control.

Talking about the significance of the ANALOG-1 test, William Carey, who is the lead investigator stated that the exploration of a harsh destination like space will be closely related to sending out robots before sending humans to check if there is water on undiscovered planets.