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Posts Tagged ‘rovers’

The first time we launched, the parachute didn’t deploy. The robot fell 2,000 feet and shattered. It wasn’t too big a deal cutting new parts to make another, but we needed to figure out a better release system for the parachute. So I climbed onto my roof and threw the rover off a few times with different parachute designs. When we launched the newer system, the parachute worked great, but the sensors that were supposed to release the parachute after the rover had landed malfunctioned and released 100 feet before touchdown. The rover almost landed in a lake!

I designed and programmed the microcontroller in the robot. The hard part was determining what state the robot was in: inside the rocket, in the air, or on the ground. I set up a system of accelerometers and barometers to detect launch, apogee and landing with accelerations and altitudes. The robot can avoid collisions, navigate, and find an outlet to charge itself.

The whole process took longer than expected because of school and college applications and graduation. But after two years, we entered the competition. We were the first to have a working rover.

Youk and classmates at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, competed in the Federation of Galaxy Explorers’ Battle of the Rockets in April.

The ultimate goal is a manned landing and lunar outpost, which China will start building after the sample-return mission, according to Ziyuan Ouyang, the chief scientist ofChina's lunar exploration program. Dates are still pretty tenuous, but last month another Chinese space official said the country would send a man to the moon by 2025.

So far, things have been going just as planned for China’s nascent moon program, which launched a second orbiter last October. The Chang’e 2 mission saw several improvements over Chang’e 1, including a more powerful rocket that delivered the probe to the moon more quickly. Chang’e 3 is supposed to launch sometime in 2013 and land in Sinus Iridium, where it will deploy an autonomous rover.

The robot, pictured above, will be able to “choose its own routes, avoid obstacles, and perform science experiments with a suite of sensors, including cameras, x-ray and infrared spectrometers, and a ground-penetrating radar,” reports IEEE Spectrum, which is covering the IEEE conference.

It will have solar panels and a supplementary power source in the form of a plutonium-238 nuclear battery, the same type installed on the forthcoming Mars Science Laboratory rover.

After the rover mission, China will launch a temporary lunar drill, which will alight on the surface, take a sample and take off again. It will probably be easier to do this on the moon than on an asteroid.

Finally, sometime after 2017 China plans a manned lunar landing, Ouyang told the crowd.

Japan wants a moon base by 2020, and some members of Congress want us to have one by 2022, so if China is able to pull this off it sounds like it could start getting pretty crowded up there.

[IEEE Spectrum]

This news comes via a new report from the U.S. National Research Council (officially titled “Vision and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022,” though many are referring to it as the “planetary decadal survey”) that says NASA is realistically about $1 billion short. The decadal survey is purely advisory at this point, but it does have weight; conducted by a group of independent scientists, it is viewed as a barometer of the larger space and planetary science community’s feelings and therefore is taken seriously by NASA policymakers.

The mission, as envisioned, calls for two rovers--one from each agency--to share a ride on the same rocket to Mars (because splitting gas money saves cash) where each will conduct missions on the surface. The European rover ExoMars would drill into the surface in search of life while its American counterpart Max-C would collect and package rocks for later retrieval and eventual return to Earth.

But the decadal report, relying on information from knowledgeable, independent parties, says Max-C would cost at least $3.5 billion to build and launch, a full $1 billion more than NASA can spare for the mission. The report doesn’t suggest NASA kill the mission but rather that it scale back to stay within budget. If that can’t be done, however, the report suggests deferring the mission until later or canceling it outright.

That’s too bad, considering an unrelated piece of news that also hit the wires today: planetary geologists think they’ve found evidence of water ice in the tropical regions of the red planet. Data gathered from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Express missions show that distribution of carbon dioxide ice in the equatorial regions of Mars suggests the presence of water within several feet of the surface. Such findings, if confirmed, would have major implications for the feasibility of any future manned mission to Mars.

Luckily, we shouldn’t have to rely on ExoMars to drill down and find it. The Mars Science Laboratory mission slated to launch later this year is headed to middle latitudes that could harbor water, and one of its candidate landing zones is very near an area that the data suggests is water-rich.

[BBC, Technology Review]

The "iRings" wheel (as in "iron rings," the symbol of Canadian engineering--this is not iPod-compatible) uses a chain-mail-type fabric encasing granular particulate material, which gives it some pretty fantastic properties. Engineers seem to be embracing the philosophy of the beanbag more lately, as seen in the coffee-balloon-handed robot--it allows strength and flexibility of shape at the same time. In the case of the iRings wheels, that translates to wheels that mold to the shape of the terrain, rather than bumping along above it, as traditional wheels would.

Even better, the beanbag wheels absorb shock far better than other types of wheels, reducing the need for a hefty suspension. On terrain as unforgiving as the moon's, that's invaluable. You can see in this video (warning: French video popup) that it's strikingly well-suited for tromping over rocks and such--it's even able to grip and then climb over objects taller than the diameter of the wheels themselves.

The project is funded by the Canadian Space Agency, part of an effort to build a light lunar rover for future lunar exploration. The final prototype is expected to be completed in the spring of 2012.

[McGill University via Engadget]

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity to its friends, is taking shape inside a clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA engineers want the public to see their handiwork as they assemble the most ambitious interplanetary explorer ever designed. Watch it here on Ustream.

We already watched as Curiosity took its first baby steps this summer; now you can follow along live as it is put together, piece by piece. Last week, NASA set up a webcam, albeit without audio, from a viewing gallery above the clean room floor. Viewers can watch as new pieces are added — on Oct. 26, workers attached Curiosity’s 7-foot-long robotic arm.

Every so often, Curiosity engineers will host live web chats to answer questions about the rover and its science instruments, according to JPL. Curiosity is designed to go farther than its predecessors, Spirit and Opportunity, and its instruments will hunt for signs of life.

The car-sized rover is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center a little more than a year from now, and it will arrive on Mars in August 2012, according to NASA. Lots more work must be done before that — to that end, bunny-suited engineers start working in the clean room at 8 a.m. Pacific time Monday through Friday.

Sometimes the rover might be in a different area where it can’t be seen, and NASA warns that the webcam might shut off occasionally. But the camera has a pretty wide view, so odds are you'll be able to watch as engineers do who-knows-what.

[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]

The Terrestrial Lunar and Reduced Gravity Simulator, or Talaris, is a collaborative effort between students and professors at MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Charles Stark Draper Lab as part of MIT's effort to win the Google Lunar X Prize. One of the requirements for that $20 million prize is a 500-meter journey across the lunar surface by a robotic rover. If Talaris is successful, a hopping rover based on its design should be able to cover that distance, and then some, with ease.

Talaris employs two propulsion systems, one consisting of four ducted fans that counter the vehicle's weight to simulate low-gravity environments, and another compressed nitrogen system that maneuvers the rover laterally. Researchers can adjust the ducted fan power to simulate different gravity conditions in different environments (say, the moon versus Mars), allowing them to repeatedly test guidance, navigation, and control algorithms to develop the right software.

A leaping rover equipped with such guidance software could avoid Spirit's fate and Opportunity's sluggish speed by simply leaping into craters or over mountains or obstructions. It could then collect data, perform some science, and hop right back out. Depending on the size of the craft and the gravity involved, a Talaris-based rover could leap for feet, for yards or even for miles across a planet's surface quickly and without worrying about the hostile terrain below. Compared to the handful of miles traveled by NASA's Martian rovers over several years of operating, that's quite a leap.

Of course, a terrestrial hopper has one major drawback -- fuel. Whereas our wheeled rovers run on solar power, a hopper would need fuel, and fuel is limited. Hoppers could only make a certain number of leaps before their nitrogen or some future fuel source runs out. The MIT team is considering designs that could be useful after the hopping fuel runs out, including designs that might turn to solar-powered rovers when their hopping days are done.

If the proper funding is secured, a real terrestrial surface hopper could be on its way to the moon by 2014, which is the deadline for Lunar X Prize teams to get their technology to the moon.

[MIT News]

Competition events began on Friday morning, June 4, at two adjacent sites near the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah. The "sample return mission" involved investigating sites that might have microbial life and bringing back a sample. At the second site, the "equipment servicing task" required rovers to flip switches, push buttons, and insert plugs into outlets.

Practice paid off for Oregon State, as its team had been practicing simulated tasks at home for the past several months, even going so far as to build their own mock-up panel for the servicing task. The team's rover successfully flipped six switches, pushed one button, and plugged in one cord. Poland's Magma Team and York University also managed to get through several switches and plugs on the servicing panel. Iowa State University's rover navigated successfully to the panel, but the electronics that controlled its robotic arm burned out.

Day two of the event focused on the "emergency rescue task," where teams were required to locate a distressed astronaut and deliver a supply packet. "We give them the last known coordinates of the astronaut, the general direction he was heading, and a maximum radius," said Andrew Duncan, a volunteer for the Mars Society and a judge for the URC. Although the teams have 40 minutes to complete the task, they only earn the full 100 points if they finish in 20 minutes or less. Once again, Oregon State out-performed the other teams, finishing in a record time of just under four minutes. York University suffered a setback when its rover flipped while climbing steep terrain on the course.

Oregon team members said frustration with their performance in last year's event motivated them to focus on working out the bugs in their systems. "We actually started designing this year's rover in the van on the way back home from last year's event," said team captain Jonathan Doltar, a mechanical engineering student.

The team took first place in two of the four task challenges, earning a total 315 points, which put them a full 100 points ahead of the second and third place teams, York University and Poland's Magma Team (Technical University of Bialystok and Nicolaus Copernicus University).

Other teams competing in the event were Brigham Young University, Iowa State University, University of Michigan, and University of Waterloo from Canada. Although 12 teams had registered for the event, funding and technical problems forced five teams to withdraw in the two weeks prior to the competition.

The URC has stringent rules in place to ensure that no team has an unfair advantage, especially in terms of funding and resources. First, there is a 50-kilogram weight limit for the rovers; second, teams can't spend more than $15,000 to build the rovers. The value of in-kind donations (e.g., parts and supplies) must be included in this limit. "These two rules keep the competition from being dominated by goliaths," said Kevin Sloan, director of the URC.

But regardless of financial resources, the time commitment for getting to the competition is significant -- York University team member Jordan Bailey says their team's captain took a reduced course load during the spring semester in order to lead the design and construction of the rover. "He was putting in 8-hour days regularly on the rover project -- some days he would sleep in a lawn chair in the room where the rover was being built," Bailey said. York's team placed second in this year's event and was the winner of the 2009 URC. "When you get here and see the rover actually working, it's worth all the effort -- even if you don't take first place," said Bailey.

The dry desert heat took a toll on several teams' rovers. Both York University and Iowa State had problems with drivers over-heating, which cost them both time and points in competitions. "It's a problem a lot of teams are having right now," said an Oregon State team member on day two of the event. "You test your rover in a lab environment, but then you get out here and it's a lot different in the desert heat." Mid-day temperatures during the event hovered around 100° F. But Oregon had obviously learned this lesson from previous events -- they improvised a cooling system by fastening reflective mylar tape to black components on the rover to prevent absorption of heat from the sun.

Iowa State University designed and built its rover with treads rather than the typical wheels. "We did it for greater maneuverability and the ability to turn more easily," said Keegan Gartner, a mechanical engineering graduate student at Iowa State. But unfortunately, as the event progressed, the treads proved to be a source of problems. During the emergency rescue task, one of the treads jumped a track, which basically meant game over for Iowa State.

Poland's Magma Team, which took third place in the overall competition, plans to use its rover as an educational tool in its home country. Students at schools in Poland will be able to control the rover remotely via the internet, gaining hands-on experience with robotics and remote-controlled space exploration vehicles.

York University's Jordan Bailey says the idea of the URC competition is to look at problems that real rovers will face on Mars and figure out new solutions. "The hardware we use on these rovers is not space-rated -- everything is basically stuff you can buy off the shelf," he said. "But the solutions are the same, whether you use earth-based or space-based hardware. So if we figure out an innovative solution to a problem NASA is looking at, they can potentially use that -- but with million-dollar space hardware instead of $1,000 equipment."

Final results of the 2010 University Rover Challenge:

Oregon State University (315 points)
York University (209 points)
Magma Team, Poland (203 points)

For information about the 2011 URC, stay tuned to the event's website.