NASA concludes lunar robotics tests

HOUSTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it has concluded two weeks of technology development tests in the Arizona desert for two prototype lunar rovers.

The tests were conducted in an area called the Black Point Lava Flow. They allowed NASA scientists to analyze and refine technologies and procedures in an extreme Earth environment that simulates conditions on the moon.

"These tests provide us with crucial information about how our cutting edge vehicles perform in field situations approximating the moon," said Rob Ambrose, human robotic systems project leader at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We learn from them, then go back home to refine the technology and plan the next focus of our research."

The annual studies featured an intensive, simulated 14-day mission with two crew members -- an astronaut and a geologist -- living for more than 300 hours inside NASA's prototype Lunar Electric Rover. The explorers scouted the area for features of geological interest and then donned spacesuits and conducted simulated moonwalks to collect samples, NASA said. The crew also docked to a simulated habitat, drove the rover across difficult terrain, performed a rescue mission and made a four-day traverse across the lava.