Teleoperated Rovers and Thermal Wadis – An Approach to Participatory Exploration of the Moon
- Paper number
IAC-07-D3.1.09
- Author
Mr. Robert Wegeng, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, United States
- Year
2007
- Abstract
The Vision for Space Exploration calls for an early return to the Moon, first with robotic systems (such as orbiting, remote sensing spacecraft) and later with humans on the surface. As with the original Apollo program, the costs for human activities on the Moon will be high, with only a few astronauts initially able to travel to and from the lunar surface; accordingly, inexpensive precursor exploration activities that enhance human productivity on the lunar surface and which engage the larger “Earth-bound community” are particularly valuable. This paper discusses an approach to lunar exploration that could provide broad public engagement while also providing information that enables the selection of high priority areas for eventual human exploration. The approach consists of four elements: 1) developing “thermal wadis” at selected locations on the lunar surface; 2) developing standardized rovers with plug-and-play sensor packages, which can be soft-landed on the lunar surface and teleoperated from multiple institutions on the Earth; 3) using the thermal wadis as staging points where the rovers (and potentially other exploration hardware) could be maintained, especially during periods of darkness; and 4) using the rovers during periods of daylight to provide groundtruthing and other preliminary explorations of the lunar surface. The paper will explain the concept of a thermal wadi and will detail how lunar resources might be used to create thermal wadis – therefore reducing the cost of material and hardware that would have to be transported to the Moon. It will also discuss initial concepts for the rovers and sensor packages. Finally, this paper will provide one example of the possible implementation and evolution of this proposed approach to participatory lunar exploration.
- Abstract document