With growing interest in the rare minerals and resources that can be found in asteroids, there is also a recognition that exploring in such low gravity in future will have its own challenges.

Now a group of researchers from Switzerland are designing a robot ideally suited for a moon or planet where there isn't enough gravity to drive on the surface or enough atmosphere to fly.

The answer is hopping. SpaceHopper is designed to overcome low gravity by harnessing it as method of moving around.

"The idea is that locomotion on low gravity bodies, like asteroids or moons, is quite challenging, especially for classic wheeled-systems," PhD robotics student at ETH Zurich, Philip Arm, told Reuters.

"So we had the idea to rather use a hopping robot which can then not only use the legs for hopping, but also to control its attitude while it's hopping, while it's flying, and to have this controlled locomotion in this tricky environment," he said.

The team tested SpaceHopper in zero gravity conditions during a parabolic flight with the European Space Agency, replicating the micro-gravity conditions on a small celestial body.

Its three legs, each with three degrees of freedom, is the optimal solution for jumping in low gravity and makes progress in any direction easy thanks to the lack of a preferred orientation.

Nine motors allow its jumps to cover large distances, while also controlling its attitude in flight before managing a controlled landing and then self-righting.

"It's basically doing what a cat is doing when a cat is jumping down. So it's using its legs and the inertia of its legs to keep its body upright or try to get its body into a predefined orientation that will then be safe for landing again," Arm said.

The team believe there are more than just commercial reasons for exploring asteroids, including finding clues about the origins of the solar system.

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(Production: Stuart McDill)