📋 Tender Overview
The COLMENA Project was launched the first Mexican and UNAM lunar exploration mission which is accompanied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs SRE the Mexican Space Agency and the state of Hidalgo.The mission which will land on the moon next June is made up of five small robots that will be placed on the lunar surface which are already installed on the Peregrine spacecraft from the American company Astrobotic and ready to travel the 384400 kilometers that separate to Earth from our natural satellite.During the presentation of the mission the rector Enrique Graue Wiechers said that this is a celebration ceremony as it shows the strength of the National University and its research institutes as well as the progress made by the Space Instrumentation Laboratory LINX. with the participation of 200 students who apply basic science to transform reality.The rector celebrated the interest of the Mexican State in applied science to strengthen the future of our nation from the Foreign Ministry for including it in public policies as well as from the Hidalgo government for promoting innovation.We will be brief to be able to resolve in the following months the exit to space of these devices and we will have to celebrate in June their launch and later their arrival said Graue Wiechers at the ceremony held in the Rectory Tower of the National University.In his speech the Secretary of Foreign Relations Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon pointed out that the function of the Foreign Ministry is to support the relevant scientific projects in Mexico that is our task and in the case of space we have attributed a high level of priority in Mexican foreign policy.He highlighted the importance of being on time in the great technological and scientific transformations of the world We can and we want to be in everything in everything that is technological and scientific progress everything that suits Mexico she pointed out.On his occasion the governor of the state of Hidalgo Omar Fayad Meneses affirmed that the mission of this project defines one of the priorities for the future and the participating institutions understand the unique moment that is being experienced in the world space sector from which Mexico must To be part.COLMENA highlights all the values of UNAM and gives Mexican society a new way of seeing and understanding the modern world the confidence that things are possible and that we can overcome our own limits. It will become a milestone and when it happens next June it is something that the children and youth of Mexico will know about. Maybe its what inspires the next astronaut or the leader of the next missions he said.Previously the person in charge of LINX from the Institute of Nuclear Sciences ICN of UNAM Gustavo Medina Tanco explained that what is known as Espacio 4.0 is undergoing a great transformation and COLMENA is part of it as an internationally original mission It is the first stage of a space technology niche that is to be developed so that Mexico is a producer of goods wealth knowledge and well-being.The mission proposes that robots act autonomously and taking nature as an example demonstrate that in a coordinated way they can be the explorers and miners of space.It is a set of five robots -with less than 60 grams each- 12 centimeters in diameter and have all their electronics less than two centimeters from the surface of the regolith. Its an international technology challenge its the first time its been done and its done by Mexico and UNAM he stressed.For his part the General Director of the Mexican Space Agency Salvador Landeros Ayala stressed that the Colmena project confirms that Mexican engineering is at the level of the best in the world since it will be the first Mexican project on lunar exploration and announced that work is already being done on new projects for the generation of oxygen and energy on the Moon all with Mexican technology.Landeros especially highlighted the recent incorporation of our country to NASAs Artemisa program by virtue of the invitation of the United States government to the Government of Mexico and the efforts of the Foreign Ministry.Meanwhile the director of the ICN Mara del Pilar Carren Castro highlighted the efforts of Medina Tanco and the students to obtain a common good. She is an example that thanks to basic science large-scale projects can be achieved and she expressed her commitment to support initiatives that position the Institute UNAM and Mexico.On behalf of UNAM the Secretary General Leonardo Lomel Vanegas and the coordinator of Scientific Research William Lee Alardn among others also participated.
