Introduction: Meet SpaceHopper, a cool new robot with three legs designed to explore asteroids and other space rocks. It was made by students at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, and it’s all about hopping around in low-gravity places.
What SpaceHopper Does: SpaceHopper’s job is to explore asteroids, which might have valuable stuff we could use one day. But moving around on asteroids is tricky because there’s hardly any gravity. SpaceHopper doesn’t drive like a car; instead, it jumps from place to place using its legs.
Testing SpaceHopper: Researchers took SpaceHopper on a special flight that simulated the weightlessness of space. In the video from the flight, you can see SpaceHopper jumping around, using its legs to stay up when there’s no gravity. It did this about 30 times during the flight, each time for about 20-25 seconds.
Why SpaceHopper Matters: SpaceHopper isn’t just a cool robot; it’s helping us learn more about asteroids and how our universe began. By hopping around on these space rocks, SpaceHopper is teaching us things we’ve never known before.
Conclusion: With SpaceHopper, exploring space just got a whole lot cooler. Its hopping legs are taking us on a journey to discover the secrets of asteroids and beyond.