Nanorovers for Planetary Exploration

Abstract

Recent advances in microtechnology and mobile robotics have made it feasible to create extremely small automated or remote-controlled vehicles which open new application frontiers. One of these possible applications is the use of nanorovers (robotic vehicles of the order of 10 grams or less) in planetary exploration. Such vehicles could be used, for example, to survey areas around a lander, or even to be distributed along the lander descent trajectory, and to look for a particular substance such as water ice or microfossils. The objective of this activity is twofold: to create a useful nanorover system using current-generation technology including mobility, computation, power, and communication in a 10 gram package, and also to advance selected technologies which offer breakthroughs in size reduction. NASA planetary missions have been under increasing pressure to reduce their launch mass requirements so that less expensive launch vehicles can be used. For example, the Delta launch vehicle is less than one-fifth the cost of the Titan, and the Taurus is less than half the cost of the Delta. In order to launch on these inexpensive vehicles, significant reductions in mass must be achieved. For example, the Science package on