{"id":284114,"date":"2022-12-05T16:37:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T20:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?migration=converted-node-484382"},"modified":"2023-09-29T17:56:49","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T21:56:49","slug":"nasa-is-testing-a-new-robotic-arm-that-really-knows-how-to-chill-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/jpl\/nasa-is-testing-a-new-robotic-arm-that-really-knows-how-to-chill-out\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Is Testing a New Robotic Arm That Really Knows How to Chill Out"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1041\" height=\"694\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg?w=1041\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"A JPL engineer examines the 3D-printed titanium scoop \" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg 1041w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg?resize=400,267 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg?resize=600,400 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg?resize=900,600 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1041px) 100vw, 1041px\" loading=\"eager\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">A JPL engineer examines the 3D-printed titanium scoop of NASA\u2019s Cold Operable Lunar Deployable Arm (COLDArm) robotic arm system, which is poised above a test bed made to simulate the surface of the Moon. The arm is designed to function in frigid temperatures that would stymie current spacecraft.<\/div><div class=\"hds-credits\">Credits: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p><em>Future planetary missions could explore in extremely cold temperatures that stymie existing spacecraft, thanks to a project under development at JPL. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When NASA returns to the Moon with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/specials\/artemis\/\">Artemis<\/a>, the agency and its partners will reach unexplored regions of the lunar surface around the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press-release\/nasa-identifies-candidate-regions-for-landing-next-americans-on-moon\">South Pole<\/a>, where it can get much colder at night than even on frigid Mars. Such surface conditions would be challenge for current spacecraft, which rely on energy-consuming heaters to stay warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A technology demonstration being developed at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California may offer a solution that would enable exploration during the dark of lunar night, a period that spans about 14 Earth days. The project, which recently underwent testing at JPL, is called Cold Operable Lunar Deployable Arm (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/feature\/cold-operable-lunar-deployable-arm-coldarm\">COLDArm<\/a>). It combines several new technologies to create a robotic arm system that can function in temperatures as low as minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 173 degrees Celsius).<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"\" class=\"hds-media hds-module wp-block-image\"><div class=\"margin-left-auto margin-right-auto nasa-block-align-inline\"><div class=\"hds-media-wrapper margin-left-auto margin-right-auto\"><figure class=\"hds-media-inner hds-cover-wrapper hds-media-ratio-none \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/e1-pia25317-1041.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1041\" height=\"1562\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/e1-pia25317-1041.jpg?w=1041\" class=\"attachment-2048x2048 size-2048x2048\" alt=\"NASA\u2019s COLDArm\" style=\"transform: scale(1); transform-origin: 50% 50%; object-position: 50% 50%; object-fit: cover;\" block_context=\"nasa-block\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/e1-pia25317-1041.jpg 1041w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/e1-pia25317-1041.jpg?resize=200,300 200w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/e1-pia25317-1041.jpg?resize=768,1152 768w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/e1-pia25317-1041.jpg?resize=682,1024 682w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/e1-pia25317-1041.jpg?resize=1024,1536 1024w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/e1-pia25317-1041.jpg?resize=267,400 267w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/e1-pia25317-1041.jpg?resize=400,600 400w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/e1-pia25317-1041.jpg?resize=600,900 600w, https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/e1-pia25317-1041.jpg?resize=800,1200 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1041px) 100vw, 1041px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><figcaption class=\"hds-caption padding-y-2\"><div class=\"hds-caption-text p-sm margin-0\">NASA\u2019s COLDArm combines several new technologies that allow it to operate in temperatures as cold as minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 173 degrees Celsius) without the use of energy-consuming heaters required by robotic arms on current spacecraft.<\/div><div class=\"hds-credits\">Credits: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/div><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cGoing to the Moon, we need to be able to operate during colder temperatures, particularly during lunar night, without the use of heaters,\u201d said project principal investigator Ryan McCormick. \u201cCOLDArm would let missions continue working and conducting science even in extreme cryogenic environments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To explain the project, McCormick recalls a scene from the 1991 movie \u201cTerminator 2: Judgment Day\u201d in which a hostile android made of liquid metal is stopped cold \u2013 literally frozen solid \u2013 by a giant spill of liquid nitrogen. \u201cThe bad guy can\u2019t work in those temperatures, but COLDArm could,\u201d McCormick said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While COLDArm won\u2019t be operating in liquid nitrogen, it could operate on a lander sent to a frozen ocean world like Jupiter\u2019s moon <a href=\"https:\/\/solarsystem.nasa.gov\/moons\/jupiter-moons\/europa\/in-depth\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Europa<\/a>, where its lack of heated parts would have the added benefit of allowing collection of volatile materials without significantly affecting the temperature of samples. It could free up some two hours of time and up to 30% of a mission daily\u2019s energy budget that Mars rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance spend warming up their robotic arms so their gears don\u2019t stress and break in the cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 6-foot-6-inch (2-meter) arm is equipped with two commercially available cameras for 3D mapping that have the same imaging sensor that is built into the 13-megapixel color camera used by NASA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/mars.nasa.gov\/technology\/helicopter\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Ingenuity Mars Helicopter<\/a> \u2013 one of several technologies COLDArm is adapting from the little rotorcraft. A variety of attachments and small instruments could go on the end of the arm, including a 3D-printed titanium scoop for collecting samples from a celestial body\u2019s surface. And, like <a href=\"https:\/\/mars.nasa.gov\/news\/8402\/nasas-insight-places-first-instrument-on-mars\/\" rel=\"noopener\">the arm<\/a> on NASA\u2019s InSight Mars lander, COLDArm could deploy instruments to the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This past September, in a JPL test bed filled with material to simulate lunar regolith (broken rock and dust on the Moon), COLDArm successfully completed experiments that assessed its ability to gather data on the properties of that regolith. Now COLDArm has been sent on to complete the same rigorous testing in spacelike conditions that every mission faces. It\u2019s targeting a launch in the late 2020s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What Makes COLDArm Work<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Several key new technologies allow the COLDArm system to function in extreme environments. First, the arm uses <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/feature\/nasa-integrates-gear-motors-for-robotic-arm-on-future-lunar-missions\">gears<\/a> made of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/feature\/jpl\/metallic-glass-gears-make-for-graceful-robots\">bulk metallic glass<\/a>, a solid metallic material with a unique composition and structure that makes it tougher than ceramic and twice as strong as steel, with better elastic properties than either. These gears require no lubrication or heating to function in the cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because the arm\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov\/what-we-do\/flight-projects\/cold-operable-lunar-deployable-arm-coldarm\/coldarm-additional-details\/\" rel=\"noopener\">cold motor controllers<\/a> don\u2019t need to be kept warm in an electronics box near the core of the spacecraft, they can be installed closer to the science instruments, requiring no insulation and less heavy cabling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And a sensor embedded in COLDArm\u2019s \u201cwrist\u201d gives the arm feedback, allowing it to \u201cfeel\u201d what it\u2019s doing in all directions, like a human jiggling a key into a keyhole and turning the lock. That device, called a six-axis force torque sensor, can also operate in extreme cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to employing cameras designed for commercial use, COLDArm leverages other technology that has been proven aboard Ingenuity: a powerful processor akin to those used in consumer smartphones and open-source flight software, called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/news\/meet-the-open-source-software-powering-nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter\" rel=\"noopener\">F Prime<\/a>, that JPL developed. Like the Mars helicopter, COLDArm could operate autonomously, performing tasks and collecting pictures and sensor data without real-time input from mission controllers back on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Motiv Space Systems, a partner on COLDArm, developed the cold motor controllers and also built sections of the arm and assembled it from JPL-supplied parts at the company\u2019s Pasadena, California, facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The COLDArm project is funded through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/directorates\/spacetech\/Lunar_Surface_Innovation_Initiative\">Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative<\/a> and managed by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/directorates\/spacetech\/game_changing_development\/index.html\">Game Changing Development<\/a> program in NASA\u2019s Space Technology Mission Directorate. Caltech in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Melissa Pamer \/ Ian O\u2019Neill<br><\/strong>Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.<br>626-314-4928 \/ 818-354-2649<br><a href=\"mailto:melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov\">melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a> \/ <a href=\"mailto:ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2022-187<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Future planetary missions could explore in extremely cold temperatures that stymie existing spacecraft, thanks to a project under development at JPL. When NASA returns to the Moon with Artemis, the agency and its partners will reach unexplored regions of the lunar surface around the South Pole, where it can get much colder at night than [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":286809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2860,2830,2661],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[8605,8612],"coauthors":[12651],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"NASA Is Testing a New Robotic Arm That Really Knows How to Chill Out","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/jpl\/nasa-is-testing-a-new-robotic-arm-that-really-knows-how-to-chill-out\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/jpl\/nasa-is-testing-a-new-robotic-arm-that-really-knows-how-to-chill-out\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg"},"articleSection":"NASA Centers & Facilities","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jet Propulsion Laboratory"}],"creator":["Jet Propulsion Laboratory"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["Technology","Jet Propulsion Laboratory","Robotics"],"dateCreated":"2022-12-05T20:37:00Z","datePublished":"2022-12-05T20:37:00Z","dateModified":"2023-09-29T21:56:49Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"NASA Is Testing a New Robotic Arm That Really Knows How to Chill Out\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/centers-and-facilities\/jpl\/nasa-is-testing-a-new-robotic-arm-that-really-knows-how-to-chill-out\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2022-12-05T20:37:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"NASA Centers & Facilities\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"Technology,Jet Propulsion Laboratory,Robotics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"Jet Propulsion Laboratory\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":5,"time_ago":"2 years","featured_image":{"id":286809,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/1-pia25316-1041.jpg","title":"1-pia25316-1041","alt":"A JPL engineer examines the 3D-printed titanium scoop","caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284114"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":504083,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284114\/revisions\/504083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284114"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=284114"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=284114"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=284114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}