Event Location: GHC 2109
Bio: John Walker completed his aerospace PhD at Tohoku University in 2016. His Mechanical Engineering degree was earned at the University of Alberta in 2005. In 2010 he attended the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. This was followed by an internship at the Space Robotics Lab at Tohoku University in Japan where he began doing lunar rover research to support Hakuto, a leading Google Lunar X-Prize Team. He joined Hakuto officially as the rover development leader and completed his PhD in the Space Exploration Lab with research in lunar cave exploration robots.

Abstract: Lava tubes are caves that underlie the moon. Until recently, lunar cave exploration was impossible, since there was no known means to enter the closed tubes. Great holes, or “pits” have recently been discovered from orbit, and some of these appear to offer robotic access to caves.

Space agencies and private institutions plan to visit these potential caves and investigate them as potential lunar habitat sites.

My research has investigated rover configuration, mobility, electronics, power and operations for exploring lunar pits and caves with small robots. I will present some of my PhD research related to these issues.