NASA funds laser-powered LUX drone for Moon caves: it can reach pits rovers can’t

NASA has awarded Stone Aerospace $175,000 in its latest $3.2 million NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts funding round. The award covers LUX, Stone Aerospace’s concept for a drone built to explore lunar caves.

LUX is a tethered flying vehicle meant to hover down into steep lunar pits and lava tubes that rovers simply can’t reach. One example NASA points to is a pit in Mare Tranquillitatis, about 250 miles from the Apollo 11 site. Researchers think it’s roughly 100 meters deep, and it may open into an underground lava tube.

The part that stands out is the tether. NASA says the drone would get power from a surface rover through a laser-powered power-over-fiber line. That same tether would also provide a high-speed connection, sending video, maps, and sensor data back to the rover and then on to Earth. It could even give the vehicle some extra stability in flight.

If you keep an eye on Moon exploration, this is one to watch. Lunar caves could protect astronauts from radiation, micrometeorites, and huge temperature swings. They may also preserve water ice and cleaner geological records. LUX is aimed at the difficult part: flying in total darkness, without GPS, while keeping communications working and preventing a delicate fiber tether from failing in dust and extreme cold.

NASA has published the early-stage NIAC concept, and you can read it through the agency. The European Space Agency is looking into similar pit robots too, including Daedalus.