LUNAR MOBILE EXPLORER, 450 KG CONCEPT AND DEMONSTRATIONS

A concept of a small and simple Lunar rover weighing 450 kg was studie d to define mission and system baseline as well as technological feasi bility. The rover is carried to the nearside of a point on the Moon wh ere a precise map is given before the landing. Radio link to the Earth stations is almost always kept. Teleoperation from the Earth is the b asic control mode for this system, though the autonomous navigational capability is provided for backup and experimental purpose. The primar y objective of this mission is the scientific exploration and experime nt to investigate the potential of lunar resources utilization in a br oad sense. This paper also introduces an actural vehicle with a laser imaging sensor, to demonstrate the feasibility of the navigation conce pt. This vehicle can move either in teleoperation mode or in autonomou s mode. In autonomous mode, after the reception of the global path tra nsmitted from Earth, the rover autonomously senses the terrain, plans the travelling path and moves itself along the path. Results of the dr iving test under the two modes in the simulated natural terrain indica ted that they worked well. A data processing from the acquisition of t errain to path planning has been functionally executed and the basic p art of the autonomous navigation has shown its feasibility, and teleop eration method as well.