NASA wants you to design a robot that can dig on the moon

The space agency says that its Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot or RASSOR Bucket Drum Design Challenge is open till April 20, 2020.

Moon surface via Nasa. (PTI)

Lunar missions have become relatively common these days. Space agencies from various countries send their space missions to the moon in order to understand the satellite better. This requires a host of tests and examinations, including that of the lunar soil. Now, the National Aeronautics Space Administration or NASA is asking the public to help it design a robot that can dig on the moon.

The space agency in a post said that while it has some ideas that it can use to design robots that can dig on the moon, it is looking for better ideas for the same. "Now, NASA is asking the public to help design a new bucket drum, the portion of the robot that captures the regolith (lunar soil) and keeps it from falling out. The regolith can then be transported to a designated location where reverse rotation of the drum allows it to fall back out," NASA wrote in a blog post.

The space agency says that its Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot or RASSOR Bucket Drum Design Challenge is open till April 20, 2020. During this time, candidates can send designs that have not been submitted, published, exhibited or put into production previously. At the end of the competition, their designs will be judged on a host of criteria including 'width of the scoops, bucket drum mass, diameter and length, volume of regolith captured and practicality of the design'.

Finally, NASA will shortlist the top five entries that will get a total of $7,000 ( ₹5.18 lakhs approximately).