At the beginning of April, four astronauts completed an orbit around the Moon, preparing for a crewed landing on its surface in 2028. "It's very inspiring to see things actually moving forward. Artemis II has just flown people around the Moon and hopefully within the next couple of years we'll see Americans on the lunar surface, which in turn will open doors for our rovers as well," said Tartu Observatory space technology engineer Laur Edvard Lindmaa on the "Terevisioon" morning show.

Since Estonia does not have such an extensive space program of its own, technology developed in the country reaches orbit and beyond through cooperation with larger space agencies. For example, Tartu scientists have sent biology experiments to the International Space Station and have participated in the Life on Venus project. Local engineering expertise has also been refined through the student satellite ESTCube and the satellites Koit (Dawn) and Hämarik (Twilight), which have operated in orbit.

Building on this accumulated knowledge, the Cube Rover now under development follows the cube satellite standard widely used in the space industry. Engineers have designed the device as a two-unit system, which sets clear limits on payload size. "The Cube Rover is built as a two-unit system, meaning it carries a device measuring exactly 10 by 20 by 20 centimeters," Lindmaa explained. The team does not plan to develop complex scientific instruments itself, instead offering strictly a logistics service.

"We don't develop the payload ourselves; we essentially provide a taxi service on the Moon. That's our idea and one of our key areas of development is the rover's autonomy," Lindmaa added. Controlling rovers in real time from Earth is risky, as signals from the planet reach the device with a three-second delay.

As a result, the software must be capable of independently avoiding obstacles in a harsh environment. "Since we plan to send many small payloads, our main focus is autonomy. It's not a case of ten people sitting behind controllers trying to steer the machine and hoping it doesn't hit a rock with a three-second delay. Instead, we mark a destination on a map and tell it to go there and perform a task," the engineer explained.

Estonian engineers are currently testing the rover's artificial intelligence decision-making and mechanical systems in an artificial environment known as the Moon bunker in Tõravere. In the sandy, rocky space, internal sensors and a front-facing camera help fine-tune the rover's movement. Although autonomy is the priority, a technician can take control if necessary and operate the device like a rally game car.

According to Lindmaa, the tests have already attracted interest from technology companies. Foreign partners see the platform as an opportunity to validate their own technology. "For example, Starrobotics has approached us to test its camera on the Moon. There have also been discussions about equipping the rover with seismic measurement devices — the machine would drive to a location, leave the sensor to collect data and then move on," the engineer said, citing a couple of examples.

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