For the Google X Lunar Prize, Team Italia proposes
reliability and costs as driving criteria for the mission design. Therefore
high TRL equipments will be preferred to contain the costs, still taking into
account advanced solutions – typically technologically refined - to reduce the
overall mass. It should be underlined that the goal of the mission is the
success; scientific objectives should be read as secondary. A soft landing,
achievable thanks to a cluster of dedicated thrusters is preferred. The landing
will occur after few days orbiting around the Moon to finalize commissioning
operations.
The architecture of the robotic system is under study, or a
single big rover (rover 10 kg; devices to host and deploy rover; Support
elevator for antennas, TV cameras, rover guidance and tracking (laser) ) &
needed Power Supplì Sys., for a total 62kg) or a colony of many robots, light and
mobile, with many legs and wheels, able to be compacted in the lander and
distributed quickly on the Moon's surface with cameras and sensors support.
They will perform 4 actions: preparation of soil for human exploitation;
Internet connection on the Moon; special actions for science on the surface;
presentation with laser of images Moon – Earth. Every small robot contains
locomotion motors, microcameras, nanosensors, microactuators at high
efficiency, solar cells and batteries, and a special material body. A prototype
is already running in Politecnico di Milano.
