Crazy Rovers

The project aims to open new opportunities for people and explore a place unknown to us so far. We are talking about the “dark” side of the moon. How well do we know the moon is not strange to us, but what about the other side? Is it different from its other hemisphere, and if so how exactly? What is really there? Our group undertook this task, namely the rover’sproject, which would examine a part of the moon unknown to us yet.   Scientificgoals: • Groundstudy. Investigating the ground will include taking a sample of lunar dust, rocks and examining craters. Study of the chemical, isotopic and mineral composition of surface and geological materials on the moon. Dust and stones are needed to make a geological and soil map. This will give us the opportunity to check whether the moon has its “second face”, namely whether this half of the moon, and precisely its dust or rocks have practical applications, e.g. in construction. Technologies: • Drive: Six 250 wattelectric motors, each will be placed in a wheel. • Power supply: A radio isotopethermoelectric generator will be used to power the vehicle to generate electricity needed to operate the rover and its apparatus. The use of power and radioisotope heating gives the rover longer life, increases the choice of landing site and generally provides more energy and heat than solar power. • Connectivity: The rover will be able to “talk” to Earth using one plate. During the mission, the rover will mainly use a UHF frequency similar to that used for television broadcasts. During such “conversations”, which will take place twice a day, the science and telecommunications probe, currently closest to the moon, will serve as a relay and save information to be sent to Earth. When the connection is completed, the probe will send information to Earth. The rover isalsoequipped with anantenna for directcommunication with the Earth. A similarantennahad: the Viking lander in the 70s, the spaceprobePathfinder in the 90s and the roversSpirit and Opportunity. Thisis the High-GainAntenna. It resembles a satellitedish, but for signaltransmissionituses a much higherfrequency, known as the X-band frequency. Thanks to it, itispossible to transfer more data at a specifiedtimeusingweaker and shorterwaves, but the transmissionbeammust be preciselyorientedsothatitcan be received . Otherantennas (antennas from cameras) as describedabovewilltransmit the image using UHF frequency. • Software:Our rover, likeallspacecraft, isequipped with a maincomputerthatconstantlymonitorsitscondition. Checksifallcommandsarecarried out and maintainscommunication with the Earth. It will bypass hazards on the lunarsurfaceusingnavigation software. Engineers on Earth willsend a sequence of computercommandseveryday to specifytasks for the rover for a givenday. • Chassis: A six-wheeledvehicle, a rocker-bogie suspension, placed on a mast of devices for scanning the environment, whichwillhelp in the selection of objects for the study and overcoming the route, autonomousnavigation software thatwillallow the rover to independently go to a specific place (without the participation of operators). The size may look more like a small compact car, but it has significant software improvements, such as global route planning or visual destination tracking. Currently, thanks to this software, it can plan the 50-meter route itself, bypassing terrain elements that are classified as obstacles (e.g. large stones or craters). The large size of the rover gives it an advantage in movement. The 60-centimeter ground clearance underneath the vehicle allows you to overcome larger stones than before. The rocker-bogie suspension system that will keep the vehicle in balance also helps. In addition, the rover will be able to withstand a tilt of 45 degrees, but the on-board damage protection system will prevent tilting greater than 30 degrees. Rover construction: The rover willconsist of: the corps, orstructurethatprotectsits “most importantorgans”; the brain, thatis, computersthatprocessinformation; temperaturecontrollers: internalheaters, insulationlayer, etc .; ”Neck and head”, ormast, on whichcameraswill be placed, thanks to which the rover willhave a field of viewsimilar to human; eyes and other “senses”, thatiscameras and devices thatwillprovideinformationabout the environment to the rover; arm, itwillincreaseitsrange of interaction with the environment and allowyou to take rock samples for analysis; ”Small laboratory” – for sampleselection; wheels, i.e. the runninggear; powersources, i.e. batteries and a generator; communicationorgans – antennas and a plate for “speaking” and “listening.” • Body: WEB, orWarm Electronics Box, can be considered the rover’s body. Theycan be compared to a car body – itis a durablecoverthatprotectscomputers and electronics (the brain and heart of the rover) and keepsthemat the righttemperature. Thereisalso a lamp to illuminate the area. • Brain: Unlike the brains of humans and animals, the rover’sbrain, ormaincomputer, isinside the “body,” in the RCE (Rover Compute Element) module. The standard industrialbusis the telecommunicationsinterfaceenabling data exchange between the host computer and the rover’sinstruments and sensors. • Arm: It consists of 4 elementsended with a gripperthathas the ability to rotate 360o (wholearm). Each element has the option of sliding out (telescopicmechanism). • Cameras: Our Rover hastwocameras. One with nightvisionfunction on the front and the other on the top, whichisable to rotate 360o and hasfourlenses. • Small Laboratory: The geologicalsamplecollecting element consists of threeelements, i.e. a samplecontainer, sampling paw and connectingpipe. The paw islocated on analuminum boom, which, depending on the height of the objectthatwill be taken, willhave the possibility of loweringor lifting. The tank isequipped with a fan designed to create a suctionairstreamthatwillturn on when the sampling paw closes, and airwill be drawn in thanks to the small holes in the aluminum boom. A filterwill be installed in front of the fan, thanks to which the dustwill be able to escape from the tank, and largerelementswillremaininside. The tank has a capacity of 30 liters. It isequipped with partitions and an automatic openingthatpreventslargersamples from escapingthrough the connectingpipe. Source:http://www.marssociety.pl/index.php/artykuy-mainmenu-41/poznajemy-marsa-mainmenu-42/249-dossier-misja-mars-science-laboratory?showall=&start=5;