Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, NASA and other organizations will test a lunar prospecting robot next month on the barren, rocky and cold slopes of Mauna Kea.

During the test, set for Nov. 1-13, Scarab the robot will follow the same steps it would use on a real mission in search of water, hydrogen, oxygen and other elements that might be mined by future lunar explorers.

"People will not return to the moon for prolonged stays unless we can find resources there to help sustain them," said William "Red" Whittaker, director of the Robotics Institute's Field Robotics Center, in a statement.

"The technology being developed for Scarab will help locate whatever water or resources might exist on the moon as we seek out the raw materials for a new age of exploration."

The robot, which will scurry around on four wheels, will use a Canadian-built drill to obtain yard-long geologic core samples at various sites. Scarab then will use on-board instruments developed by NASA to analyze the samples.

The robot was designed and built for NASA by Carnegie Mellon to explore craters at the moon's southern pole. It would have to operate in constant darkness at minus-385 degrees Fahrenheit.

The machine weighs about 880 pounds and operates on 100 watts of power.

The NASA field test will occur at elevations of approximately 9,000 feet on Mauna Kea, which reaches almost 14,000 feet into the Pacific sky.

The robot likely will have to operate in rain and fog with daytime temperatures of about 40 degrees.