Design of Mobility System for Ground Model of Planetary Exploration Rover

Abstract

In recent years, a number of missions have been planned and conducted worldwide on the planets such as Mars, which involves the unmanned robotic exploration with the use of rover. The rover is an important system for unmanned planetary exploration, performing the locomotion and sample collection and analysis at the exploration target of the planetary surface designated by the operator. This study investigates the development of mobility system for the rover ground model necessary to the planetary surface exploration for the benefit of future planetary exploration mission in Korea. First, the requirements for the rover mobility system are summarized and a new mechanism is proposed for a stable performance on rough terrain which consists of the passive suspension system with 8 wheeled double 4-bar linkage (DFBL), followed by the performance evaluation for the mechanism of the mobility system based on the shape design and simulation. The proposed mobility system DFBL was compared with the Rocker-Bogie suspension system of US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration and 8 wheeled mobility system CRAB8 developed in Switzerland, using the simulation to demonstrate the superiority with respect to the stability of locomotion. On the basis of the simulation results, a general system configuration was proposed and designed for the rover manufacture.

Flight Dynamics and Navigation for Planetary Missions in Korea: Past Efforts, Recent Status, and Future Preparations

“…Apart from these efforts, diverse areas related to planetary missions have already been initiated to prepare for future planetary missions. These studies include a planetary rover mission (Kim et al 2012;Eom et al 2012Eom et al , 2014, dynamic simulator development (Rew et al 2010), conceptual asteroid mission trajectory design (Yoo et al 2009;Song et al 2010c;Song & Park 2015), and a planetary mission trajectory concept generation using small satellites (Song et al 2015b(Song et al , 2015cLee et al 2017c). From these combined studies, it is believed that the cornerstone of the future Korean planetary missions, such as a lunar landing or asteroid sample mission, would be more achievable.…”

Drivers of Cross-Country Vehicles

“…However, in the majority of cases, attempts have been made to improve the suspension, but not the wheels (see, e.g. [5][6][7]). Meanwhile, many of the problems of the Mars rovers were concerned with the wheels.…”