<p>Five tiny robots designed and made in Mexico will blast off for the moon later this year, part of a first-of-its-kind scientific mission that envisions the two-wheeled bots scrambling across the lunar surface while taking sophisticated measurements.</p>.<p>The so-called nano robots developed by researchers at Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM) will work together like a swarm of bees, the senior scientist told <em>Reuters</em>, once they make the nearly 240,000 mile (386,000 km) trip from earth aboard a rocket from closely held US firm Astrobotic Technology.</p>.<p>The mission is poised to launch on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket and would be the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in nearly 50 years.</p>.<p>"This is a small mission where we'll test the concept, and afterwards we'll undertake other missions, first to the moon and then on to asteroids," said Gustavo Medina Tanco, a UNAM scientist who heads the Colmena project, which means "beehive" in Spanish.</p>.<p>Medina Tanco explained that the bots, made of stainless steel, titanium alloys and space-grade aluminum, are equipped to gather lunar minerals that could be useful in future space mining.</p>.<p>On a recent tour of UNAM's space instruments lab, Colmena team members tested a launch device for the wafer-thin almost 5-inch-diameter (12 cm) disk-shaped robots, which are designed to communicate with one another as well as with an earth-based command center.</p>.<p>The bots are scheduled to launch in June on Astrobotic's Peregrine lander, originally developed for Google's Lunar-X-Prize.</p>.<p>During their month-long mission, the nano robots will take first-ever lunar plasma temperature, electromagnetic and regolith particle size measurements, according to an UNAM article on the project published earlier this month.</p>.<p>Medina Tanco expressed pride about the upcoming mission, that also included contributions from some 200 engineering, physics, math and chemistry students.</p>.<p>"No one has done this, nobody, not just in Mexico," he said.</p>.<p>"We can make a difference in the technology and for international cooperation that can then lead to important joint ventures to study the minerals or undertake other scientific exploration."</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>
<p>Five tiny robots designed and made in Mexico will blast off for the moon later this year, part of a first-of-its-kind scientific mission that envisions the two-wheeled bots scrambling across the lunar surface while taking sophisticated measurements.</p>.<p>The so-called nano robots developed by researchers at Mexico's National Autonomous University (UNAM) will work together like a swarm of bees, the senior scientist told <em>Reuters</em>, once they make the nearly 240,000 mile (386,000 km) trip from earth aboard a rocket from closely held US firm Astrobotic Technology.</p>.<p>The mission is poised to launch on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket and would be the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in nearly 50 years.</p>.<p>"This is a small mission where we'll test the concept, and afterwards we'll undertake other missions, first to the moon and then on to asteroids," said Gustavo Medina Tanco, a UNAM scientist who heads the Colmena project, which means "beehive" in Spanish.</p>.<p>Medina Tanco explained that the bots, made of stainless steel, titanium alloys and space-grade aluminum, are equipped to gather lunar minerals that could be useful in future space mining.</p>.<p>On a recent tour of UNAM's space instruments lab, Colmena team members tested a launch device for the wafer-thin almost 5-inch-diameter (12 cm) disk-shaped robots, which are designed to communicate with one another as well as with an earth-based command center.</p>.<p>The bots are scheduled to launch in June on Astrobotic's Peregrine lander, originally developed for Google's Lunar-X-Prize.</p>.<p>During their month-long mission, the nano robots will take first-ever lunar plasma temperature, electromagnetic and regolith particle size measurements, according to an UNAM article on the project published earlier this month.</p>.<p>Medina Tanco expressed pride about the upcoming mission, that also included contributions from some 200 engineering, physics, math and chemistry students.</p>.<p>"No one has done this, nobody, not just in Mexico," he said.</p>.<p>"We can make a difference in the technology and for international cooperation that can then lead to important joint ventures to study the minerals or undertake other scientific exploration."</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>