Future (Mars) rover can climb and crawl on any rocky surface.

[Albert VDS]

This would be a great rover to explorer lava-tubes.

[Drunkrobot]

Was anybody else thinking of the rope Luke Skywalker used to cross the gap in the Death Star in A New Hope? I think these could be scaled down too create something similar to it.

[NGTOne]

This would be a great rover to explorer lava-tubes.

Unfortunately, while you're right, I doubt any space agency would risk sending a billion-plus-dollar spacecraft underground, where it could lose signal or get smashed by a falling rock.

[K^2]

But can it sell me car insurance?

Unfortunately, while you're right, I doubt any space agency would risk sending a billion-plus-dollar spacecraft underground, where it could lose signal or get smashed by a falling rock.

There is a lot it can do while staying tethered to a home station, which can be an ordinary rover.

But yeah, such a machine would be most useful in places where a rope won't reach. So it'd have to be fully autonomous. Capable of mapping the cave and finding its way back to the surface. We do have systems that allow for that, but it'd be a risk.

[Drunkrobot]

There's no reason the robot has to go up there alone. It could come along in a manner mission, and go into the caves ahead of the humans, connected to an operator on the surface with a cable. Once a better understanding of the caves has been made, the astronauts go in, to do more in-depth work.

OK, you compute pi, and I teach you about this thing called love.

[Tiberion]

@ 2:07 in the video..... Johnny Five... is.... ALIVE.

[Tommygun]

That's impressive. I can see that being useful for sending into areas that are too dangerous or difficult to send a fully suited astronaut to.

Places like off the side of a cliff or a small cave. I would be surprised if it would work on an asteroid that's probably covered in fine dust and pebble sized rocks. I think a mini space uav would be better for an asteroid mission, one that could hop helicopter like over the surface with RCS thrusters.

That gripping technology has come a long way sense the last time I saw it. I hope something comes of it.

[magnemoe]

Could this be used on an asteroid? Benefit is that you could make the parts lighter. and it might solve the problem of moving around.

[K^2]

Could this be used on an asteroid?

Yeah. They demo "zero gravity drill" in this video, which is meant for asteroid missions. They show it as man-operated, but it can be part of a "lander" as well. Something that attaches itself to the surface and drills in to study the rock.