Lunar Polar Prospecting System
[insert acronym]
Bringing swarm autonomy to the moon for water prospecting, lava tube mapping, and more
The Problem
Access to water is essential for sustained lunar settlement. Permanently shadowed regions scattered across the lunar poles contain billions of tonnes of water ice, but they've never been directly explored. Existing infrastructure is too slow, imprecise, and expensive to meet the needs and schedule of America's race to the moon.
Environment
Permanently shadowed regions
PSRs never receive direct sunlight. Temperatures can drop to −240°C.
The Prize
Water ice and volatile deposits
Orbital spectroscopy and the LCROSS impact confirm the presence of water, but orbital data can't tell us where, how deep, or in what form with enough precision for informed mission planning.
NASA Gap
No PSR surface mobility solution exists
VIPER was cancelled. IM-2 didn't reach its target. NASA's strategic gap documents identify PSR in-situ access as unresolved — gaps DN-007 L and DN-006 L.
Scale Problem
A single rover can't cover a crater
PSR craters span tens of kilometers. A rover's lifetime covers hundreds of meters at best. Spatial coverage demands a fundamentally different architecture.
"Whoever maps the ice first will define the infrastructure of cislunar space for the foreseeable future."Endurance Robotics · Mission Rationale
The Hardware
Each LOCUST unit — a "cricket" — is a small, spring-loaded hopping robot designed to survive PSR conditions, traverse rough crater floors, and collect subsurface spectroscopic data through hollow penetrating legs.
Simulated swarm dispersal across crater floor
Locomotion
Spring-loaded hopping
A leadscrew-based reset mechanism stores energy in a precision spring, releasing it to produce 1 m hops in lunar gravity. Designed for rough, boulder-strewn terrain where wheels fail.
Science
Fiber optic subsurface spectroscopy
Hollow penetrating legs carry fiber optic cables to the subsurface. At each landing, the cricket probes for water ice and volatile signatures — no separate drill required.
Materials
PSR-rated spring systems
Spring material candidates include BeCu, Elgiloy, and Ti-6Al-4V — selected for cryogenic performance at PSR temperatures where conventional springs fail unpredictably.
Mass
~2 kg per unit
Each cricket is a compact 2 kg unit. Dozens can be delivered in a single CLPS payload, giving the mission immediate swarm-scale coverage on arrival.
Comms
Relay-to-lander mesh
Crickets communicate through a relay network back to a lander at the crater rim, where it has line-of-sight to Earth or LunaNet relay satellites.
Autonomy
Decentralized swarm behavior
Each cricket runs lightweight onboard logic for collision avoidance and coverage optimization. Swarm coordination uses Lévy walk patterns proven effective for unknown terrain mapping.
System Architecture
LOCUST is designed as a complete system — from deployment to data return. Each layer is independently capable and collectively redundant.
Cricket Unit
Hop mechanism
Leadscrew-driven spring reset. Single-actuator design for minimal power draw in cryogenic conditions.
Penetrating legs
Hollow structural legs carry fiber optic bundles to subsurface. Dual function: landing stabilizer and science instrument.
Spectrometer
Miniaturized near-IR spectrometer reads volatile signatures via the fiber optic downlink at each hop landing.
Power system
Primary battery with RHU thermal management. No solar dependency — fully operable in total darkness.
Swarm Layer
Dispersal strategy
Lévy walk coverage algorithm distributes crickets efficiently and stochastically across the crater floor.
Collision avoidance
Onboard RF ranging and reactive logic prevent inter-unit conflicts without centralized coordination.
Mesh relay
Crickets serve as relay nodes for each other, extending data return range beyond individual comm radius.
Redundancy
Mission success is defined at fleet level. Individual unit failure is expected and tolerated by design.
Mission Layer
Delivery
CLPS-compatible payload. Lander positions at crater rim, deploys cricket swarm into PSR interior.
Lander comms
Rim-stationed lander aggregates data from swarm mesh and relays to Earth via direct link or LunaNet.
Science return
Spatial maps of subsurface volatile concentration, temperature, and terrain hardness across the crater floor.
Seismic sensing
Distributed hop-impact seismometry enables subsurface structure mapping as a secondary science objective.
Strategic Alignment
LOCUST directly addresses capability gaps documented in NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate strategic planning. These are funded priorities, not aspirational targets.
PSR surface mobility
In-situ access to permanently shadowed regions via a surface-mobile platform. No currently manifested mission closes this gap. LOCUST is a direct solution.
PSR volatile characterization
Direct measurement of volatile composition, concentration, and distribution within PSR interiors. Orbital data is insufficient. Ground truth requires in-situ access.
Small-scale robotic prospecting
Lightweight, low-cost robotic assets for distributed resource prospecting. LOCUST's swarm architecture is purpose-built for this operational concept.
Subsurface access without drilling
Non-drilling methods for subsurface volatile sampling. LOCUST's fiber optic penetrating legs provide shallow subsurface access at each hop landing — drill-free.
Technology Readiness — Cricket hop mechanism
Current: TRL 3–4 · Target: TRL 6 · Flight: TRL 9
Proof-of-concept spring mechanism validated · Leadscrew reset under development · Cryogenic material selection in progress · Target: component-level thermal vacuum demonstration
Geopolitical Urgency
Chang'e-7 is en route to the south pole.
China's mission establishes in-situ presence in the south polar region by the late 2020s. VIPER was cancelled. IM-2 missed its target. The window for the US to characterize PSR resources before a strategic competitor is narrowing. LOCUST is the fastest path to first-mover ground truth data.
Why Swarms Win
Coverage, cost, and resilience.
A single large rover is a single point of failure. A swarm of 2 kg crickets costs a fraction per unit, covers orders of magnitude more area in the same mission window, and degrades gracefully. The architecture is inherently suited to the scale and accessibility constraints of PSR prospecting.
Roadmap
Prototype & mechanism development
Spring mechanism sizing complete. Leadscrew reset architecture in design iteration. PSR spring material candidates benchmarked. Fiber optic leg concept under development.
First prototype cricket build
Full mechanical prototype. Hop mechanism demonstration in 1/6g test environment. Cryogenic spring performance validation. SBIR Phase I proposal targeting NASA STMD.
Swarm behavior & comms demonstration
Multi-unit swarm test. Lévy walk coverage algorithm validation. Mesh relay comms demonstrated. SBIR Phase II or PRISM proposal with flight heritage path.
CLPS rideshare demonstration
Flight unit build and environmental testing. Targeting a CLPS rideshare for a near-pole surface demonstration to qualify terrain performance ahead of PSR entry.
PSR interior science mission
Full LOCUST system deployed into a permanently shadowed crater. First in-situ volatile map of PSR floor. Data licensed to NASA, resource exploration companies, and Artemis planners.
Team
Lily Coffin
CEO & Lead Inventor
Caltech ME graduate, mechatronics and systems. Developed LOCUST at Astera Institute. Former JPL intern. Led Caltech's 2024 NASA BIG Idea winning team. Deep expertise in lunar surface systems and V&V design.
Logan Hayes
Co-Founder · Engineering
Robotics engineer with experience across large aerospace primes and early-stage space startups. Specializes in rapid hardware iteration and systems integration on aggressive timelines.
Elise Dakkar
Co-Founder · Systems
Mechanical engineer and JPL alumna. Columbia Engineering graduate with a background in space hardware test campaigns and rigorous systems integration for flight programs.
We're seeking strategic partners, early customers, and investors who understand that the next chapter of lunar exploration begins in the dark.