It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's...a Lunar Penguin?

Like the plot of Batman Returns going out and having a wild affair with a Harsh Mistress, rocket-powered Penguins may soon be bounding across the moon.

According to this and the article referenced there, though, this Penguin actually looks nothing like a penguin. Everyone loves penguins though, and with all the Antarctic work being done related to the moon it only makes sense that penguins should have their place on Luna, allegorically or not.

The lunar penguin is a robotic explorer, developed by defense contractor Raytheon, with the ability to jump as high as a kilometer (and over great distances) as it completes missions (searching for frozen water, etc.).

With the moon's landscape being unusually harsh, hopping may very well be a prime mode of robotic lunar travel. One thing is for sure: we're going to be seeing a wide variety of proposals (and actual rovers/robots) over the next 10 to 20 years.