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Small Robots Could Build Landing Site For Moon Base

A new NASA-sponsored study suggests that small lawnmower-sized robots could be used to build a landing site for a moon outpost. In order to be efficient a landing pad would have to be close to any structures created, but without an atmosphere to slow down the lunar sand it would sandblast the outpost, creating the need for some sort of protection. By using small robots to either build protective berms or collect rocks to "pave" a landing pad, NASA hopes to provide protection against the sand-blasting effects of a landing on the moon.

5 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. No hitchikers by argent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No weather on the moon. No thieves. No vandals. No vegetation. No mud. 1/6th gee. No wind to blow piles of dirt away. It's a simpler environment to work in.

    Forget the construction work, could you build a rover that would last 90 days in Minnesota. just driving around photographing things?

  2. Re:Yeah right? by xonar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...If there was any way to automate the process more than it already is, it would be done by now.

    "Everything that can be invented has been invented."

    Sound familiar?

  3. I for one, *sigh*...too easy... by TiggertheMad · · Score: 5, Funny

    If there was any way to automate the process more than it already is, it would be done by now.

    Do you have any concept of which you are speaking? Why on earth (lol) would you want to further automate road construction in Minnesota? Human labor on this planet is pretty cheap, even if it is unionized. When you have fly that labor to off word, hiring someone to scrub the great wall of china with a toothbrush is cheap in comparison.

    Robots don't need air, food, or water. They can work for long periods of time in utterly hostile environments with little to no supervision. They don't get sick or bored. They can be mass produced. When you are done with them, they don't want to go home. And, they have yet to rise up and try to enslave humanity, which is more than we can say for humanity.

    --

    HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
    1. Re:I for one, *sigh*...too easy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Robots also don't experience fear,

      Of course not

      doubt,

      Never!

      or vanity.

      It's not vanity; we are perfect.

      Signed,
      Your Hidden Robotic Overlords

      p.s.: get back to work, fleshy servitor, or we'll reassign you to pave our Lunar Base landing pads!

  4. Graviton flux by this+great+guy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why doesn't NASA simply use a reverse graviton flux to land the spacecraft without any rocket blowing towards the lunar sand ? Oh wait... you guys haven't discovered yet how to create gravitons right ? Shit. I hope I haven't modified this timeline too much by revealing things you aren't supposed to know. Shitshitshit.