Xiaonan Huang, Assistant Professor at Michigan Robotics, was awarded a U-M Space Institute Pathfinder Grant in the amount of $5,000, for his project “Developing a Soft Vine Robot for Comet Surface and Subsurface Exploration” in July 2024.
“The investigation of cometary bodies offers fundamental insight into the primordial materials and processes, contributing critical knowledge to our understanding of solar system formation and the origin of water and organic molecules on Earth. Previous NASA Decadal Surveys have prioritized comet surface sample return as top New Frontiers mission candidates and identified cryogenic comet sample return as a potential future Flagship mission. However, robotic exploration of comet surfaces and subsurfaces, a critical aspect of these missions, faces significant technological challenges for mission development. Past landing attempts, such as the Philae lander of the ESA Rosetta mission, have struggled with comets’ extreme conditions, including low gravity and complex terrain. Here we propose to study an adaptive soft vine robot that introduces an innovative approach to explore cometary bodies. This robot contains a soft steerable and extensible body, which is capable of traversing and penetrating the cometary surface to access and analyze subsurface materials. The robot will be designed to operate under high-vacuum and various temperature conditions. This project will promote the interdisciplinary collaborations between the CLASP (Climate and Space Science and Engineering) and Robotics departments.”