Settlement Site Selection and Exploration ThroughHierarchical Roving
Gregory Konesky
SGK Nanostructures, Inc.
Rutgers Symposium on Lunar Settlements
Rutgers University
3-8 June 2007
Man
Or
Machine?
Man
Or
Machine?
YES!
Machines Scout Ahead
Man Soon Follows
NASA JSC
Man/Machine Synergism
NASA JSC
Remote Teleoperated Man/Machine Synergism
Teleoperation from the Moon
or from the Earth:
Lunokhod 1 (Arrival 11/17/1970)
Traveled 10.5 km
Lunokhod 2 (Arrival 1/15/1973)
Traveled 37 km
Approx. 1.3 second one-way delay
On-site Rover Teleoperation for
Settlement Site Selection and Exploration
Provide “Ground Truth”
Given cost of $1,000,000 / day
to support a Man on the Moon
Economic Leveraging effect of
Teleoperated Rovers
Rover Size Affects Capability
NASA JPL
Mars Exploration Rovers (MER)
Sojourner
Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS)
Deployment Mechanism
Imaging
Spirit/Opportunity
APXS
Rock Abrasion Tool
Microscopic Imager
Deployment Mechanism
Stereoscopic Panoramic Cameras
Navigation Cameras
Hazard Avoidance Cameras
Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer
Mossbauer Spectrometer
Magnetic Particle Detection
Sojourner (1997)
Traveled a few hundred meters
Lasted a few months
Contact Lost
Spirit/Opportunity (2004)
Traveled tens of kilometers
Continue to operate today
By chance, Sojourner landed in a strewn rock field.
It easily navigated around/between them.
Had Spirit/Opportunity landed there, they might
have had considerable navigation difficulty.
Small size can be an enabling asset
When proceeding into unknown terrain, it would
be ideal to have both benefits at your disposal
→ Hierarchical Roving
Payload Capacity and Distribution
- Small Rovers spatially distribute payloads
- Simultaneously sense a much larger environment
- Redundancy
- Navigation Agility
- Levels of Hierarchy
Large/Small Rover Tradeoffs
Small Rover Specialization
Imaging
Sample Collection and Processing
Analytical
Manipulators
Collective Interaction of Multiple Small Rovers
on a Common Task
Small Rover Specialization - continued
Imaging Applications
Navigation
Terrain Mapping and Understanding
Hazard Identification
Locating Areas of Interest for Visit by Other Rovers
Standoff Self-Imaging
Self-Rescue
Carrier Rover Characteristics
Deploy/Recover/Transport Small Rover Fleet
Communications Relay Link between
Command Center(s) and Small Rover Fleet
Recharge Small Rover Batteries
Traditional Approach
Distributed Capability Approach
Operational Scenarios –Identify Region of Interest
Sample Acquisition and Analysis
Multiple Analysis Vehicles
Archive a Sample
Rover Command Transmission
Command Reception and Retransmission
Design Example Characteristics
DimensionsVehicle: 52” Long, 34” Wide, 37” High
Carrier Bay: 31” Long, 24” Wide, 18” High
WeightCarrier Vehicle: 152 Pounds
Available Payload: 48 PoundsTypical Small Rover: 5-10 Pounds
Power66 Watts Solar Panels
56 Amp-Hr Lead Acid Battery Reserve
Georgia Tech
Levels of Earth-bound
Teleoperation Users
Vehicle Drivers (10 channels)
Active Viewers (500 channels)
Passive Viewers (unlimited)
Conclusions
Hierarchical Roving represents a paradigm shiftin the decision between a large and small rover.
Best of both choices incorporated into one platform.
Provides the ability to sense/sample the environment from several mobile points simultaneously.
Multiple levels of Hierarchy are possible.
Acknowledgements