Mexico will launch 5 micro robots to the Moon

MEXICO - Mexico will launch "five little robots" (nanorobots) to the moon, informed the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT), through the Mexican Space Agency (AEM).

In a press release, this agency announced that the "Colmena" project, the first Mexican mission to the lunar surface, is ready to be launched into space and will take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States.

Salvador Landeros Ayala, general director of the AEM, explained that this project will send to the Moon five micro robots developed with Mexican technology, at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), by a team led by Gustavo Medina Tanco.

"This project will make history and is the first of its kind in Latin America, which puts the name of our country very high, to endorse once again that Mexican engineering is at the level of the best in the world," said Landeros.

He specified that this project was developed in the Space Instrumentation Laboratory of the Institute of Nuclear Sciences (LINX-ICN) of the Maximum House of Studies and included joint support from the AEM, the current National Council of Humanities, Science and Technology (CONAHCYT), and the Government of Hidalgo.

"In today's world, developing our own technology is a necessity for Mexico; if we want social welfare, if we want a more productive and better future, we need to be more than just consumers, and transform this country into an actor with technological sovereignty," said Medina Tanco.

He added that after overcoming countless technical tests and challenges, which included redesigning almost the entire project due to a change in the launcher rocket for Astrobotic's "Peregrine Lunar Lander" spacecraft, Colmena's carrier, Mexico is ready for this mission, called "Peregrine 1".