NASA RASSOR: Mitigating Lunar Communication Latency ​Using an AI-Driven Digital Twin of the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (Blue Team))

Discipline: IEMS

Advisor: Luis Rabelo

As humanity prepares to return to the Moon, robotic systems will play a critical role in building infrastructure, collecting resources, and preparing landing sites before astronauts arrive. One major challenge limiting robotic operations is communication latency between Earth and the Moon. Commands sent from Earth take approximately three seconds to reach the Moon, while telemetry requires another three seconds to return, creating a six-second round-trip delay that complicates real-time control and slows operations. This first-of-its-kind international senior design collaboration between the University of Central Florida and the Polytechnical University of Durango, Mexico addresses this challenge by developing an AI-ready digital twin for NASA’s Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR), a robotic excavator designed for lunar environments. The digital twin is a virtual model of the robot that mirrors its behavior and remains synchronized with the physical system through timeline-based state prediction. This allows operators to visualize the rover’s predicted current state despite communication delays. An RGB-D camera provides visual and depth data to improve environmental perception and excavation modeling. The platform serves as a practical testbed for smarter remote operations and future intelligent lunar surface missions.

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