A leap into the future
A fascinating project by young students at ETH Zurich and the Panasonic battery department
In a project partnership, Panasonic is supporting a fascinating development program by young students at ETH Zurich. The program involves the development of a three-legged robot that will be used to explore asteroids.
ETH Zurich is a technical university of high international renown
ETH Zurich is a technical university of high international renown. Many innovations started here. SpaceHopper is one such project that we will certainly be hearing more about in the future. The challenge is the virtual absence of gravity on asteroids, which makes it very difficult for a robot to move around. The development team assumes that the most effective way of traveling in a low-gravity environment would be controlled leaps.
Microgravity conditions
Currently, the project is in the testing phase. The initial aim is to test the robot under microgravity conditions. On Earth, there is only one way to do this: parabolic flight, where a special large-scale aircraft can simulate a short period of weightlessness by using a parabolic flight path. A collaboration with ESA makes it possible to use this very cost-intensive procedure for the SpaceHopper program.
Gravity locomotion
- Hop to traverse large distances
- Attitude control during flight
- Controlled landing at target point
- Precise short-distance locomotion
- Ability to carry a scientific payload
- Self-Righting after landing
SpaceHopper cooperation between ETH Zurich and Panasonic
Project highlights
Panasonic's contribution
Panasonic's contribution is to provide advice and support in selecting and supplying the optimum batteries. In the test phase, this will be a pack of twelve BK-300SCP Ni-MH cells, which are highly robust and temperature-resistant. In the future, Lithium cells will be used for space applications due to their higher energy density.
We are happy to support this student project
Our company is happy to support this project because it fits in perfectly with our vision: Energy that changes the future. We see it as our mission to promote developments that bring about happiness, sustainability and social peace. We will continue to support projects of this kind in the future and look forward to inquiries in this regard.
Downloads
| Name | File type | Grootte | Date | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NiMH_Batteries_Handbook.pdf | 10MB | English |
Milestones
Do you like the SpaceHopper project? Contact us.
Are you planning an interesting and innovative project like Spacehopper? Do you also need support with batteries or related technologies? Contact us with your project description. Maybe it will lead to a co-operation.
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