A proposal of exploration robot with wire for vertical holes in the moon or planet

Abstract

Moon holes were first discovered by JAXA in 2009. It is believed that moon holes are useful for learning about the formation of the moon because the bedding plane is exposed. In addition, because the inner holes are sealed from solar wind, moon holes are also considered important candidate sites for base camp in the future. However, exploration of vertical hole is difficult with the conventional robots. A new type of robot is required to go down and explore a moon hole. In this study, a vertical hole exploration system with a small robot with wire is proposed. This paper describes a modeling and attitude control scheme in a state where the robot is hanging by a wire, and evaluates the effectiveness of the proposed system.