科学家们预测,21世纪初,人类将在月球上建立起宇宙基地。这一设想引起普遍关注,但也面临着诸多困难。 月球是真空的,宇宙射线极强,宇航员必须穿着宇航服才能行走,而且行动笨拙,与别人说话也须通过电波媒介,这给科学考察带来了困难。由于将人送往月球需要用昂贵的火箭来运送氧气、水、食品等多种物资,从而限制了运往月球的人数。在此形势下,用机器人代替人便成为科学家们所关注的重要课题。 然而,月球上条件恶劣,即便使用机器人也不是一件轻而易举的事。这里还存在着一些困难:一是月球上宇宙基地人员少或根本无人,遇到意外事件,需要机器人具有自诊断和自修复的功能;二是月球地表复杂,事先了解的知识不多,在现场使用的传感器要能理解传感的对象;三是月球距地球遥远,电波通信中,单程延迟时间为1.5秒以上,所以遥控并不容易。 Scientists predict that at the beginning of the 21st century, humans will establish a cosmic base on the moon. This idea has aroused general concern, but it also faces many difficulties. The moon is a vacuum, cosmic rays are very strong, astronauts must wear spacesuits to walk, and clumsy operation, to speak with others through the wave media, which makes scientific expeditions difficult. Since people are sent to the moon, expensive rockets are needed to transport oxygen, water, food and other supplies, thus limiting the number of people transported to the moon. In this situation, using robots instead of people has become an important issue of concern to scientists. However, the harsh conditions on the moon, even using the robot is not a breeze. There are still some difficulties here: one is that there are few or no people in the Universe base on the moon, and the robot needs to have self-diagnosis and self-repairing in the event of an accident. Second, the lunar surface is complex and there is not much prior knowledge. The sensor used in the field should be able to understand the sensing object. The third is that the moon is far away from the earth. In the radio communication, the one-way delay time is more than 1.5 seconds, so the remote control is not easy.