Rocket mining robot built to collect water from the Moon’s crust

Thankfully, unlike traditional rockets, nuclear energy isn’t used to provide thrust for these rockets. Instead, the system runs on oxygen and hydrogen electrolysed from water, meaning it effectively mines its own fuel. Nice.

Once mined, icy ore is hoovered at close range into the rover where it is separated from sediment using sophisticated magnets. The excess then passes through a second filter called an electrostatic sorter, which uses cold plates to capture any remnants of water vapour still hidden in the mix.

Sounds complicated right? Yet the process takes all of 5 to 10 minutes.

Having tested the system thoroughly on ‘simulated lunar ice’ – which we presume is likely just ice – Rocket M’s creators assert that up to 12 craters can be mined per day. At around 220 lbs of icer per crater, that works out at 426 tons recovered in a single year.

As automated assistants go, even in 2021, it’s pretty damn efficient.

Because of its light weight and mobility, Rocket M is able to navigate around boulders, breccia, basalt, and any other mysterious obstacles it may encounter along the way.

In terms of its uses, it could also prove to be super versatile. Masten Space Systems claims the machine can mine regular land for building materials if required to do so. Elon Musk will be picturing that mansion and Earth view pool right about now – all paid for in Doge.

Nuts as a rocket firing rover sounds, granted, the Rocket M is comfortably the most effective solution we’ve seen to date in excavating water from the Moon’s surface. Again, it’s unanimous among those in the know that sending water from here simply isn’t feasible.

If the Rocket M wins NASA’s challenge, which looks likely at this stage, its rovers could be altered for similar purposes on Mars, enabling exploration about our cosmos all year round.

Only time will tell to see if the Rocket M performs as well in the wild as it sounds in theory.