Japanese robots to conquer the moon by 2020

Japan plans to set out to conquer the moon using robots before 2020. The Japanese space agency, JAXA, intends to put 2.2 billion US dollars on the table to develop a family of robots that will go to explore the moon by 2020. The first Japanese robots should also land on the moon in 2015. They weigh about 300 kg and will have arms to take samples, solar panels to run on energy, devices to measure seismic activity and of course high-definition video cameras. Semi-autonomous, these robots will be controlled from Earth and will lay the foundations for a lunar base which will be able to welcome humans in the future.