UNAM will reach space again

*With the Colmena mission they plan to go to the moon

Written by: Carlos Pozos (Lord Molecula)

Sunday, January 7, 2024

On Monday, Mexico's highest educational institution, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), will launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida on what will be its first space mission with the Peregrine ship.

It will be between 2 and 3 pm Mexico time, when the ship belonging to the country's highest educational authority will take off as part of the Vulcan Centuro rocket.

According to specialists, such as researcher at the Institute of Nuclear Sciences (ICN), Gustavo Medina Tanco, the mission in which UNAM will participate will reach the moon in an estimated time of 4 to 6 weeks.

“For 5 small robots with a diameter of 12 cm and weighing less than 60 grams, they also contain a communication and dissemination module called TTDM. The latter aims to analyze the problems that robots can have in coexistence with the space environment,” Medina Tanco said.

It is worth noting that this mission aims to study the layer closest to the surface of the Moon and discover the parameters that help determine its physical properties to know how communications can be affected, as well as help in validating strategies to reduce the following problems: sudden changes in temperature, high radiation, Electromagnetic interference, lunar regolith.

This mission aims to achieve goals such as developing small robots that can cooperate in large swarms, and developing the capabilities necessary to carry out operations on the surface of an asteroid or the moon.

Scientist Medina from UNAM explained that this type of technology will give the necessary power to Mexico so that it can later cooperate with other companies with the aim of future trips to the moon for scientific or mining purposes.

This mission, headed by scientist Medina, was made possible thanks to the participation of 250 students not only from UNAM, but also students from the National Polytechnic College, both from Baja California, Quintana Roo, Mérida and Chiapas.

“…It is important for other young people to see how they were able to do something as complex as Colmina and have a presence in the latest technologies in the world,” Medina said.

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