Settlement Site Selection and Exploration Through Hierarchical 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 Dimensions Vehicle: 52” Long, 34” Wide, 37” High Carrier Bay: 31” Long, 24” Wide, 18” High Weight Carrier Vehicle: 152 Pounds Available Payload: 48 Pounds Typical Small Rover: 5-10 Pounds Power 66 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 shift in 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