Kajima to develop automated construction machinery for building on Mars, moon

The major Japanese construction company will team up with Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The machinery should be ready to
build a facility to accommodate four to six people on the moon in around
2030 and on Mars in around 2040.

The
new machinery will utilize Kajima’s already-tested auto construction
system, called A4CSEL, or Automated Autonomous Advanced Accelerated
Construction System for Safety, Efficiency, and Liability. The system
allows human operators to give instructions to machinery via tablet
computers. Bulldozers use GPS and accelerometers to perform a variety of
tasks.

The system has already been used to build dams in Fukuoka and Oita prefectures in southern Japan. Kajima equipped Komatsu’s
networked bulldozers with its machine control program, which was based
on data derived from experienced machine operators. Such machinery is
capable of carrying out work with high precision, Kajima says.

But
if machines simply follow orders, they may fail to respond adequately
to unintended accidents or duplication. To solve this problem, Kajima
plans to develop a new way of operating machines that allows them to
communicate with each other to do their jobs more efficiently. Machines
will, for example, detect their own location and make adjustments so as
to avoid collisions or repeating a task such as piling dirt.

Kajima
thinks its new automated construction machinery will be useful in
leveling the ground before constructing a rocket launch pad or a
building. It is also expected to be used for carrying dirt. Satoru
Miura, principal researcher at the Kajima Technical Research Institute,
said the company will develop the new construction machinery for use in
civil engineering works. “If we succeed in building automated machinery,
we can transfer the technology to engineering works on the ground,” he
said.

The International Space Station, the furthermost man-made
structure from Earth, was built by astronauts assembling, with the help
of controllers on the ground, materials brought by the Space Shuttle and
other means. Although no ground leveling or other engineering work was
needed because it is in space, it took 13 years to complete the
construction, starting in 1998.

Construction on Mars or the moon
will face a different challenge. Since those celestial bodies are away
from Earth, it takes a long time to send radio signals. Thus, auto
construction by remote control is not a realistic option. Sending humans
to do the job may be possible but accommodation during the construction
period will be a concern as it will take a long time.

In January,
JAXA selected Kajima’s idea to develop machinery for construction in
space for its Space Exploration Innovation Hub project, a three-way
program among businesses, the government and academia. An indoor
experiment will be held sometime after April next year at JAXA’s
Sagamihara Campus in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.

E dopo la Russia, anche il Giappone comincia a pianificare un cantiere sulla luna per la sua prima base fissa. Non ho capito una cosa pero’: se questi bulldozer telecomandati, oltre agli accelerometri, usano il GPS per orientarsi, come fanno sulla luna ? Hanno intenzione di mettere una mini rete di satelliti GPS in orbita intorno alla luna?

Kajima to develop automated construction machinery for building on Mars, moon