## Summary of News: Little Red Robots to Scout Moon Base Sites and SpaceX Starship Success This news report from **Digital Trends**, authored by **Trevor Mogg** and published on **September 16, 2025**, details two significant developments in space exploration: the testing of AI-powered robots for scouting moon base locations and the successful 10th flight test of SpaceX's Starship rocket. ### AI-Powered Robots for Moon Base Scouting * **Objective:** To scout ideal locations for underground moon bases, enabling astronauts to live and work on the lunar surface for extended periods. * **Development:** A research group led by Chuo University professor **Yasuharu Kunii** in partnership with engineering company **Takenaka** is developing these small, red, AI-powered robots. * **Capabilities:** * Autonomous operation and inter-robot communication for sharing findings. * Navigation across sandy terrain designed to simulate the lunar surface. * Ability to jump up to **one meter** high. * Potential to be deployed in swarms with assigned roles. * **Proposed Moon Base Location:** Scientists suggest building bases inside lava tubes, which offer protection from extreme temperatures and significantly reduce exposure to space radiation. * **Timeline:** * The first robots are planned to be sent to the moon within the **next five years**. * NASA aims to return humans to the lunar surface with the **Artemis III mission in 2027**. * Construction of a moon base is targeted for a later mission, possibly by the **end of this decade**, with the base not expected to be ready for astronauts until the **2030s**. * The **Artemis II** mission, a voyage around the moon with four crew members, is scheduled for **next year**. ### SpaceX Starship Rocket's 10th Flight Test Success * **Event:** SpaceX successfully launched its Starship rocket on its **10th flight test** on **Tuesday**, following scrubbed launches on Sunday and Monday. * **Launch Details:** * The rocket blasted off from Starbase in southern Texas at **6:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. ET)**. * The launch was described as a "big success." * **Key Achievements:** * Both the **Super Heavy booster** and the **Starship spacecraft** achieved **soft splashdowns**. * The Starship spacecraft landed approximately **three meters** from its targeted splashdown point in the Indian Ocean. * The landing was a controlled, soft landing on the water, captured in dramatic slow-motion footage shared by SpaceX. * **Significance:** This marks a significant step for the Starship program, which aims to be the world's most powerful launch vehicle.
Little red robots are getting ready to scout moon base sites
Read original at Digital Trends →Home Space The AI-powered robots can work autonomously and share findings with each other. Firefly Aerospace If you entered a test site operated by Japan’s space agency recently, you would’ve seen a bunch of tiny red robots trundling across a sandy surface. The AI-powered robots were being tested ahead of a trip to the moon where they’ll scout for ideal sites for underground moon bases, the Nikkei Asia news outlet reported this week.
NASA and its partners are planning to build a moon base on the lunar surface so that astronauts can live and work there for extended periods, similar to how they spend time aboard the International Space Station (ISS) today. The U.S. space agency is aiming to return humans to the lunar surface in 2027 in the Artemis III mission, with work on building a moon base targeted for a later mission, possibly by the end of this decade.
That would mean the moon base won’t be ready to welcome the first astronauts until some time in the 2030s. The little red robots appear to be little more than a pair of wheels, but in between these are tiny computers that provide their smarts. During the recent test, the robots could be seen navigating sandy terrain that’s designed to resemble the lunar surface.
The diminutive bots even have the ability to jump as high as one meter. The machines are being developed by a research group led by Chuo University professor Yasuharu Kunii in partnership with engineering company Takenaka. The robots would be used to search for the best sites to house the first moon base for human inhabitants.
Scientists have suggested that a moon base could be built inside lava tubes that extend under the lunar surface. Such tubes would provide a safer setting for humans by shielding them from extreme temperature fluctuations and significantly reducing exposure to space radiation compared to the lunar surface.
Kuni and his team want to send swarms of the robots to the moon, with each one assigned roles to be carried out autonomously. The robots would also be able to work collaboratively, sharing knowledge gained during their individual searches of the terrain and also the lava tubes. The plan is to send the first of these robots to the moon within the next five years.
As part of plans to return humans to the lunar surface, NASA is preparing to send four crew members on a voyage around the moon in the Artemis II mission next year, followed in 2027 by the Artemis III landing. Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)… Space SpaceX finally launches Starship rocket on its 10th flight.
Watch the highlights The test flight was a big success, with both the Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft achieving soft splashdowns. Following scrubbed launches on Sunday and Monday, SpaceX managed to launch the Starship rocket on its 10th launch flight on Tuesday. The most powerful rocket ever built blasted off the launchpad at Starbase in southern Texas at 6:30 p.
m. local time (7:30 p.m. ET). Here's footage of the rocket leaving the launchpad: Read more Space SpaceX shares dramatic footage of Starship rocket unleashing raw power Watch the world's most powerful launch vehicle leave the launchpad in Tuesday's successful test flight. SpaceX has shared some dramatic slow-motion footage (below) of the Starship rocket blasting off from the launchpad at the start of Tuesday’s successful flight.
“Liftoff of Super Heavy, the most powerful launch vehicle in history, on Starship’s tenth flight test,” SpaceX said in an online post that included the 30-second video. Read more Space Watch Starship’s precise ocean landing in SpaceX slo-mo footage The spacecraft landed about three meters from its targeted splashdown point at the end of its 10th test flight on Tuesday.
SpaceX has shared some slow-motion footage of its Starship spacecraft making a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean just over an hour after it launched from SpaceX’s Starbase site near Boca Chica in southern Texas on Tuesday. The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company shared two videos of the landing, with one of them tracking the Starship as it descended to make a controlled, soft landing on the water.
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