LEAP - Legged Exploration of the Aristarchus Plateau

Abstract

<p><strong><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">Abstract</span></strong><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">Mobile robotic surface platforms are critical for the ex</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">ploration of the solar system. In the past, robotic ex-</span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">plorers were limited by their abilities to navigate and </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">traverse challenging terrain, such as boulder fields and</span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">slopes steeper than</span> <span dir="ltr" role="presentation">15</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">°. The ESA topical team ’LEAP’ </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">studies the feasibility of using an innovative loco-</span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">motion system - a dynamically walking quadrupedal </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">robot - to address challenging terrain and unlock hard-</span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">to-reach, but high-reward scientific targets. Here, we </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">present preliminary results of this assessment, includ-</span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">ing 1) the selection of several promising science tar</span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">gets that are inaccessible by traditional means, 2) our</span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">robotic platform, 3) a provisional payload suite that </span><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">can address relevant science questions, and 4) sugges-</span><br role="presentation" /><span dir="ltr" role="presentation">tions for future hard- and software developments. </span></p> <p><span dir="ltr" role="presentation"><img src="" alt="" /></span></p> <p><span dir="ltr" role="presentation"><strong>Plain Language Summary</strong><br role="presentation" />Geologically interesting sites, such as outcrops, slopes, and caves, are often difficult to access. The<br role="presentation" />ESA Topical team ’LEAP’ stu