Aviation Week Reveals New COLDArm Specs

The other week, Aviation Week dug into our work on COLDArm, and its lunar applications.

 

At the Moon, NASAʼs stepping stone to the future human exploration of Mars, Motivʼs Cold Operable Lunar Deployable Arm, or COLDArm, will be prepared to excavate and transport lunar soil to science instruments aboard a lander or rover for analysis; dig trenches to assess the nature of the lunar soil; and place scientific instruments on the soil to study the structural dynamics.

 

All of this is possible due to our collaboration with NASA JPL, developing a robotic arm capable of functioning on the Moon’s south pole.

 

The never-before reported news? Details about the COLDArm specs.

 

The arm is 7.5 feet long, with 4 degrees of freedom and the capability to function without supplemental heat at temperatures as low as -279°F.

 

Another bit of news from the article? We’re developing COLDArm to work both autonomously and in response to direct commands from Earth. While robotic operations on Mars need to be largely autonomous, due to the minimum 4-minute delay in communications to the red planet, signals from the moon can reach Earth in under 3 seconds. This allows for both autonomous and remote-control-style operations of robotic machinery on the lunar surface.

 

Get the full details in Aviation Week (subscription required).