Student Mini Lunar Rovers Program
- Paper number
IAC-07-E1.1.08
- Author
Mr. Kirk Kittell, Orbital Sciences Corporation, United States
- Coauthor
Pavan Kumar, India
- Year
2007
- Abstract
The student organization Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is conducting a design contest for a series of Mini Lunar Rovers in conjunction with the SEDS International Conference at the Vellore Institute of Technology on 22 September in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. The purpose of the competition is to design a series of miniature rovers that could be transported to the moon on a human exploration mission. Students will design a series of solar-powered rovers, each containing at minimum a video camera, science instrument, and communications system. The maximum number of rovers is a design variable, but must include more than one rover. All rovers will be designed to be stored in a single ground station package that will receive communications from the rovers and transmit telemetry to Earth via the communication system of the larger mission. The rovers must be deployable from the ground station without intervention by astronauts. Considering that mass on a human lunar mission would be extremely limited, the mass of an entire package, rovers plus ground station, is limited to 10 kg. Specific details such as the functions of the rovers and ground station, number of rovers, range and mobility, and a program for distributing and employing information from the mission for educational purposes will be left to the imagination of the students and used as criteria for judging. During the development of the project, experts in science and engineering will be invited to give seminars via blogs.seds.org and judge the submissions. The results of this contest will be given in this paper as a case study for small lunar applications that blend public and educational outreach with viable science experiments. The rover designs are intended to represent a feasible mission that can be considered on a proposed mission to the moon.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-E1.1.08.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.