AI Snake Robots to Ready the Moon for Human Settlement

Ready to live in a lava tube? Might be the best option on the moon, where you have to live underground to avoid radiation. But the exploration of said lava tubes could be very dangerous. So researchers built an AI snake robot to do the work.

MIGHT SNAKE ROBOTS READY THE MOON FOR HUMAN SETTLEMENT?

When scanning the moon as a potential destination for human settlement — or, at the very least, interstellar travel expeditions — the agency is homing in on lava tubes, which are molten rock tunnels where lava once flowed. Since the moon is not sheltered from the sun’s radiation like the Earth, people hanging out on the lunar surface for an extended period must stay underground — and these tunnels could be a cheaper alternative to constructing habitation modules buried in the ground. Good news, until you realize that inspecting these tunnels for habitable areas would be too dangerous for astronauts and too small for rovers. But Norwegian researchers have come up with a possible solution: snake robots that can maneuver through, in and around these lunar crevices.

...These AI-powered creatures could land on the moon, rappel down a tether line or be lowered by a crane into lava tubes and then weasel their way in and out until they find the most pristine spots for human settlement, according to Norwegian research company SINTEF. Aksel Transeth, senior scientist for SINTEF, says these slithering robots would be packed with sensors, including a camera and laser, as well as tools, such as a mechanism for retrieving soil samples for further analysis. Inspired by SINTEF’s Anna Konda, a self-propelling firefighting snake robot that’s essentially a mobile water hose, these snakes could explore the moon’s lava tubes to identify areas that are most suitable for protecting settlers from harmful exposure to cosmic radiation and meteorites.

a reply to: soficrow

I was wondering when they'd send robot AI to prep for habitation.

It's the only thing that makes sense in such a hostile environment.

Funny how they are planning for settlement under the moon's surface when a big part of the ufo community believes there are 'aliens' on or below the moon's surface.

Isn't it logical to think that if any species inhabits a planet or moon, they would build below the surface to secure there assets against radiation or the risk of getting spotted by an outside thread ?

Makes me think about the 10's of ancient underground city's they found scattered arround the world. Some cave's they found are so large they would have been inhabited by 1000's of people.

I believe it would be a better idea to look for life below our moon's surface before planning to settel there ourself

Anyway nice post !

a reply to: soficrow

Hmm sound's like the plot from a sci fi movie.

Back in the 1980's there was a now almost forgotten but today cult sci fi movie called Moontrap (the follow up did not even stick to the story so best forget about that one).

The plot was that while on a mission Nasa redirect a shuttle to identify a large object on a decaying orbit of the earth and not long from re-entry and they find a massive 14000 year old space craft about a quarter of a mile long, short on time as the craft is near to falling out of orbit and burning up the astronaut on the EVA from the shuttle bring's back both a human body (Skeleton) and a strange red metal object like an egg or football though the craft is burned out from the inside so these two object's near to a breech in the hull are all he can retrieve.

Back on earth scientists analyse it and find the skeletion is at least 14000 years old and human, the ship's trajectory somehow mysteriously (Well it was a sci fi movie) has been plotted back to a crater on the moon.

They lock up and leave the body and the strange red object in the laboratory but the red object activates and turn's out to be a malignant AI based robotic device, short on part's this pod make's use of all around it including the ancient body to create a robot with itself as the robot's brain, cue a gun fight and the destruction of the device then a mission to the moon to investigate the site of the launch.

On the moon the astronaut's encounter more of these robotic enemy's and find a living human woman in a suspended animation chamber inside an ancient human built structure like a lunar cathedral, one astronaut is killed and the other along with the woman are later captured by the robot's and held aboard another larger ship similar to the first one the encountered (and oddly long shaped similar to the infamous mona lisa ship images) which the robot's were missing a vital component for, that component being a guidance system which the astronaut's have unwittingly delivered to them in the form of there own vehicle but somehow the astronaut and his ancient human female new girl friend escape from there bond's and make there way toward the lander which is now seated in the heart of the robot invasion ship were they activate a nuclear bomb and then escape to be picked up by another shuttle which was trying and failing to fight off the massive and larger mile long robot invasion ship.

During the movie the plot is used to ask the question of were these robot's alien invaders sent to wipe out the ancient and once far more advanced human civilization or were they AI devices which had turned upon there maker's so what had happened to the human civilization that nothing remained of it and were there more of these rogue robot's waiting for there chance to fulfill there prime directive of getting to earth and wiping humanity out still biding there time upon the moon.


So AI snake's that burrow under the lunar surface? just like these fictional robotic enemy's.

Strictly a B grade sci fi movie but still a must watch for sci fi fan's (the follow up made in 2016 is crud and strictle a C or even D grade sci fi movie).

a reply to: LABTECH767

Sounds like a good B movie.