The first UK self-propelled vehicle on the Moon was a 4-legged robot

The UK is planning to send a space exploration vehicle to the moon, which is also the nation's first self-propelled vehicle.

This self-propelled vehicle is a four-legged robot developed by British startup Spacebit. It has sensors that can take measurements and collect probe data for researchers to analyze.

Robots are also equipped with cameras - one of which can take selfies of robots - and can withstand large variations in temperature, from 130 degrees Celsius (266 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day to minus 130 degrees. C at night.

Spacebit's Moon Autonomous Vehicle is on display at the New Scienceist Live event in London on October 10, 2019.

It will also be able to navigate through lunar lava tubes, which are tunnels beneath the lunar surface that are thought to have once been filled with lava. Spacebit said that this is something that was previously achieved.

The company signed an agreement with the US Astrobotic company to start its first mission in 2021 aboard the Astrobotic lunar lander. US landing craft will be launched on a Vulcan rocket from a location at Canaveral Cape Air Force Station in Florida.

Spacebit co-founder and chief executive Pavlo Tanasyuk said the launch would "bring the first lunar lander from the US since Apollo".

Autonomous vehicles of the United Kingdom will be the first self-driving cars of this country to be on the moon and will join the ranks of the United States, China and Russia, countries that have previously completed that task. The UK has built another self-driving vehicle, called Rosalind Franklin, in the hope of landing on Mars one day.

India recently tried to bring a self-propelled vehicle to the moon, but it lost contact before being set to touch down. The vehicle is reported to have hit the moon's surface.

Private companies are hoping to take advantage of the business opportunities offered by space exploration. Morgan Stanley estimates the space economy could be worth more than $ 1.1 trillion by 2040.

Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic announced earlier this year that it would become the first company to go public, with a stock market listing expected to take place later this year thanks to a merger with the acquirer with Special purpose of Chamath Palihapitiya, Social Capital Hedoophia.

1. November 10, 1970 - Soviet self-propelled Lunokhod-1 vehicle launched into space
2. Chinese autonomous vehicles discover new features of the Moon