A British startup looks set to become the first UK-based space company to launch a robot to the moon.

According to an article on The Engineer, Spacebit, who are an aerospace and robotics company based in London, have produced the ‘Asagumo’ – an autonomous solar/battery-powered rover robot that will use cameras and LIDAR sensors to obtain data from our natural satellite.

The Asagumo will move across the lunar surface thanks to four limbs likened to a spider’s legs that are attached to its cubic frame. It will launch to the moon via the Peregrine lunar lander designed by another company that specialise in space robotics and planetary missions: Astrobotic.

With the cubic frame of the robot measuring just 10X10cms, the CEO of Spacebit believes that the Asagumo’s slender size can open new doors for future space missions.

“The reason it is small is that ultimately we believe it can change the approach to space exploration,” said Pablo Tanasyuk, CEO of Spacebit.  

“If you can send something which is smaller and cheaper then you can send multiple systems and you can also allow for risk. We can have more data and more exploration at lower cost.”

The team are very intrigued by the moon’s lava tubes and will look to explore them. However, it is unlikely that they will be able to explore these during its maiden mission, which is scheduled to launch this summer.