Final presentation and demo at DFKI, Bremen

 
 

Final project MOONWALK review meeting on OCTOBER 27th, 2016, DFKI Robotics Innovation Centre in Bremen


MOONWALK was presented as part of the projects’ Final Review. Events were held at the DFKI Robotics Innovation Centre in Bremen, Germany and were open to invited public. The final review meeting included a demonstration of the key concepts and technologies  developed during MOONWALK, a 3-year project under the EU 7th framework programme for Research & Technological Development in the sector of space.

“Moonwalk prepares humans to explore the surface of the Moon or Mars, together with robots that can assist humans in difficult tasks, dangerous tasks, or repetitive tasks … also (it serves) as an assistant to carry tools, to carry samples. That is why it is interesting through the Moonwalk project to look how astronauts can be helped by rovers.” (Jean-Francois Clervoy, former ESA astronaut, Novespace)

Accomplishments of project MOONWALK
For the first time in the European Union, MOONWALK has demonstrated in an earth analogue:

  • Collaboration between astronaut and rover, where rover is operated by gesture control;
  • Use of the Galdolfi-2, an EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity) simulation spacesuit developed by MOONWALK, suitable for testing in two environments, both on ground and immersed in water;
  • An advanced EVA information system suitable for use in underwater partial-gravity simulations;
  • Integration of a self-deployable simulation habitat into an analogue test (SHEE- Self-deployable Habitat for Extreme Environments)
    SHEE was completed in 2015, through an EU-FP 7 grant independent from project MOONWALK, (co-funded by the European Commission under the Space theme of the 7th Framework Programme) and was concluded Dec. 2016.