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In a first step towards uncovering the Moon’s subterranean secrets, in 2019 we asked for your ideas to detect, map and explore lunar caves. Five ideas were selected to be studied in more detail, each addressing different phases of a potential mission.
Carried out by the Robotics Innovation Center of the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) together with the Robotics Group of the University of Bremen, this investigation aimed to find an overall solution to access and map a lunar lava tube with a semi-autonomous rover. The concept involves entering a lava tube using a tether system that also provides communication and energy. When the bottom is reached, the tether spool is deployed and serves as a recharging station and communications relay for the battery-operated rover. This study will further improve on existing results from previous projects, where parts of the proposed approach were evaluated, for example by mapping a lava tube in Tenerife.