ETH Zurich students take SpaceHopper robot on parabolic flight
Our video of the week comes from Switzerland where ETH Zurich students are developing a robot called SpaceHopper that can navigate very low gravity environments.
SpaceHopper will be deployed on space missions to explore relatively small celestial bodies including asteroids and moons that are believed to contain valuable mineral resources that could be of use to humankind. The exploration of these bodies could also provide insights into the formation of our universe.
The project was launched two and a half years ago as an ETH focus project for bachelor’s degree students but is now being continued as a research project by five master’s degree students and one doctoral student.
According to ETH Zurich, one particular challenge of developing exploration robots such as these is the very low gravity prevailing on small celestial bodies, so for this reason the researchers have tested their robot in zero gravity scenarios on a European Space Agency parabolic flight.
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