After India’s Chandrayaan 3’s success, Japanese space agency JAXA is preparing to conquer the Moon. JAXA plans to reach the Moon as early as 2024. A key component of this mission is a strange-looking robot that resembles a tennis ball. However, some are calling it a robot from the Star Wars film. Recently, Jaxa has launched Slim Mission. This strange robot, whose name is Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2, has also been sent through this mission.
Level-2 will be launched on the Moon from a height of 2 meters, after which its mission will begin. Its speciality is that both its parts can move separately. It will run through lunar soil. This idea came from the concept of a children’s toy, which has now been sent into space.
However, this is not a scientific experiment but a technical demonstration. Level-2 batteries will work only for two hours on the Moon. But its design and size will be necessary for the rover in the future.
Toy Companies Together Created
“We adopted robust and safe design technology for children’s toys,” said Hirano Daichi, senior robot researcher and developer at JAXA. This reduced the number of components used in the vehicle as much as possible and increased its reliability.
The Japanese Space Agency, Doshisha University and toy manufacturing company TOMY have jointly developed this robot. Apart from this, Sony set a control board and a camera present between the round legs of the robot. It also has a camera installed which will send pictures to the earth.
Mission Will Have To Reach The Moon
Before Level-2 can begin its mission to the Moon, JAXA must successfully deliver the SLIM mission to the Moon. This work is very complex and requires the utmost skill. In recent years, many countries have launched missions related to the Moon but failed.
For example, Russia’s Luna-25 mission failed in August. Before that, Israel’s mission had also failed. Before the success of Chandrayaan-3, Chandrayaan-2 had also failed. However, Japanese scientists are hopeful that he will be successful.
