a lightweight lunar rover for working missions
- Paper number
IAC-10.A5.1.10
- Author
Dr. Rita Ambu, Italy
- Coauthor
Mr. Costantino Falchi, Italy
- Coauthor
Mr. Paolo Maggiore, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
- Coauthor
Prof. Andrea Manuello Bertetto, University of Cagliari, Italy
- Year
2010
- Abstract
The development of vehicles for the exploration in the lunar environment is a topic of great interest. In particular, recently, there has been a growing attention toward the lunar rovers for working missions since a primary objective for a deeper lunar exploration is the building of lunar bases. This paper focuses on the development of a lunar rover assigned to working tasks. The rover, designed as a collaboration between the Technical University Politecnico di Torino and the University of Cagliari, was conceived as a skilled worker with the task to clear an area allocated to the building of a lunar base. The rover has been designed as a functional and lightweight structure to catch loads and move them, keeping into account the characteristics of the environment in which the vehicle will operate. In particular, the basic components are a frame, a catching mechanism of the load and four columns. Each column of the rover has been designed to allow the motion of the vehicle, the lifting of the vehicle and the load, the control of the attitude. The vehicle has several degrees of freedom and each column is motorized to achieve a linear motion, to manoeuvre it and correct the attitude which can be controlled to keep a defined plane, independently from the contour of the soil. The mechanism of transmission of the lifting device uses a precision coupling between a lead screw and nut and comprises a particular device which is capable to uncouple shear and bending loads transmitted to it from the other parts. In the paper, the architecture of the rover is described and the design of main components, such as the frame, the leg and the catching mechanism, is reported.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)