The demands of space exploration weight reduction, weight reduction, compactness and weight reduction.
The demands of disaster relief are probably all terrain mobility, strength and stability.
Those attributes are polar opposites.
I don't know if it has been translated but I would recommend "Die Känguru Chroniken".
It's a humourous book about a communist kangaroo moving in with a comedian.
Many great jokes have established themselves in left leaning german meme culture as a result.
The book mostly has standalone chapters, but the sequels have more of a narrative throuline.
It was funded by a regulated monopoly, with the government saying that a percentage of all profits had to go to R&D.
They were not even allowed to give Unix to anyone other than universities, let alone profit of it.
I only need one apple.
https://whatif.xkcd.com/1