Developed with Korea’s own robotics technology, the rover, which is 25cm tall and weighs 13kg, can climb up a 30 degree incline at a speed of 4cm per second. (image:Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Korea Bizwire) – The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) unveiled a prototype of the first Korean lunar exploring rover on February 16. The rover, which will be sent on Korea’s exploratory mission to the moon in 2020, is built to withstand the harsh terrain and hazardous temperature ranges found on the moon.
Developed with Korea’s own robotics technology, the rover, which is 25cm tall and weighs 13kg, can climb up a 30 degree incline at a speed of 4cm per second. It can also climb over 5cm-high obstacles.
The rover features a double-track mechanism called ROBHAZ-DT3, which is also featured on ROBHAZ, KIST’s commercialized robot for hazardous applications, and allows it to operate on the bumpy moon terrain. The KIST rover can run for up to 340 hours on power generated by an attached solar panel.
KIST also developed a technology to coat bearings with thin films of solid lubricant that can endure conditions in harsh environments. Korea is expected to be the fourth nation in the world to have sent a rover to the moon upon the 2020 mission’s success.
By Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
