AstEx is a microgravity experiment selected to fly on ESA’s 51st Microgravity Research Campaign in November 2009. The experiment will investigate the dynamics of regolith on asteroid surfaces. Despite their very low surface gravities, asteroids exhibit a number of different geological processes involving granular matter. Understanding the mechanical response of this granular material subject to...

We study the detailed locomotor mechanics of a small, lightweight robot (DynaRoACH, 10 cm, 25 g) which can move on a granular substrate of closely packed 3 mm diameter glass particles at speeds up to 50 cm/s (5 body length/s), approaching the performance of small, highperforming, desert-dwelling lizards. To reveal how the robot achieves this high performance, we use high speed imaging to captur...