NASA’s RASSOR rover, which is pronounced “razor” and stands for Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot, is an absolute mining machine.
Known as “a blue collar robot,” the RASSOR rover is currently in development at the Kennedy Space Center for the purpose of eventually mining the surface of planets in order to collect the components required for oxygen, water, and rocket fuel.
“This is not your typical NASA rover with lots of very sophisticated instruments on it that are quite fragile,” according to Rob Mueller, a senior technologist at KSC’s Surface Systems. He adds, “It can dig, it can climb, it can flip over. If it does flip over, it can right itself up again.”
Incredibly, engineers predict NASA’s RASSOR rover will be approximately 5 times faster than Curiosity, with improved stamina.
Nothing says blue collar like the ability to work 16-hour shifts while also carrying 40 pounds of material per trip.
