Robotic Planetary Exploration by Sun-Synchronous Navigation

Abstract

Sun-synchronous navigation is accomplished by traveling opposite to planetary rotation, navigating with the sun, to remain continually in sunlight. At appropriate latitude and speed, solar-powered rovers can maintain continual exposure to solar radiation sufficient for sustained operation. We are prototyping a robot, named Hyperion, (Figure 1) for solar-powered operation in polar environments and developing sun-cognizant navigation methods to enable rovers to dodge shadows, seek sun, and drive sun-synchronous routes. We plan to conduct field experiments in a planetary-analog setting in the Canadian arctic to verify the algorithms that combine reasoning about sunlight and power with autonomous navigation and to validate parameters that will allow sun-synchronous explorers to be scaled for other planetary bodies. The paper provides a preliminary report on progress towards sun-synchronous navigation.