In a first-of-its kind scientific mission, five tiny robots designed and made in Mexico will blast off for the Moon later this year to study the lunar surface and gather lunar materials to pave the way for future applications of robots in space mining.

The two-wheeled robots set to take part in the mission are made of stainless steel, titanium alloys, and space-grade aluminum. They were developed by researchers at Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM) as part of the Colmena project, which translates to “beehive.” The project includes contributions from more than 200 engineering, physics, chemistry, and mathematics students from UNAM.

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The disc shaped robots reportedly measure around 12 centimetres in diameter and are designed to communicate with each other, as well as with a control centre back on Earth.

As the name of the project suggests, the robots will work together in tandem like a swarm of bees to study the lunar surface and mine lunar materials, and if successful, could pave the way for future applications of robots in space mining. More specifically, the robots will take the first-ever lunar plasma temperature, and will also be the first to carry out electromagnetic and regolith particle size measurements, as per UNAM.

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“This is a small mission where we’ll test the concept, and afterwards we’ll undertake other missions, first to the moon and then on to asteroids. No one has done this, nobody, not just in Mexico,” Gustavo Medina Tanco, an UNAM researcher who heads the Colmena project, told media outlets.

“We can make a difference in the technology and for international cooperation that can then lead to important joint ventures to study the minerals or undertake other scientific exploration,” he added.

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As for the mission itself, the robots being sent to the Moon by UNAM will be launched aboard the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket in June 2022, and after making the 240,000 mile journey to the Moon, will be deployed using US space firm Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander.

If successful, the mission would not only mark the start of a first-of-its-kind scientific experiment, but would also mark the first landing of an American spacecraft on the Moon in over 50 years.