Surface Mobility and Robotics en route to Mars Sample Return: Canadian-European Activities within the ESA Aurora Programme
- Paper number
IAC-08.A3.3.B3
- Author
Dr. Nadeem Ghafoor, MDA, Canada
- Coauthor
Ms. Gita Ravindran, MDA, Canada
- Coauthor
Mr. Howard Jones, MDA, Canada
- Coauthor
Mr. Hartmut Mueller, OHB-System, Germany
- Coauthor
Dr. Lutz Richter, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Germany
- Coauthor
Dr. Alain Berinstain, Canadian Space Agency, Canada
- Year
2008
- Abstract
Mars has been a cornerstone of the Canadian space exploration program since 2002, and as with much of Canada’s space activity, international partnerships have been key enabler. Canada is participating in the next three international Mars missions led by the US and Europe, namely the 2007 NASA Phoenix mission (meteorology instrument), 2009 NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission (APXS instrument) and the 2013 ESA ExoMars mission (rover chassis development. Mars Sample Return remains a major goal within the Canadian space exploration program and, combined with a long-standing heritage in space robotics, continues to underpin participation in international Mars programs. As an ESA member state, Canada has long been active within the ESA Aurora program, which recently has also seen increasing participation from the US, Russia and other nations. This paper focuses on recent activities, in particular in the area of surface mobility and robotics, where key technologies are being developed for the three Aurora missions: ExoMars, NEXT and MSR. ExoMars is the first mission of the Aurora program, ESA’s first rover mission, and the first mission dedicated to the search for life on Mars. Planned for launch in 2013, the ExoMars rover will be capable of operating autonomously, traveling several kilometres over rocky Martian terrain with minimal input from human operators. This paper provides an overview of design and development activities for the ExoMars Rover Chassis & Locomotion System being led by MDA along with its European partners, including the build of a full-scale 18-degree of freedom ExoMars rover breadboard model, delivered to the program in early 2008. The second mission of the Aurora program, currently being evaluated by ESA, is the NEXT mission, which will conduct key investigations and demonstrate critical technologies for an eventual international Mars Sample Return mission. As of 2008 parallel concepts were being prepared for ESA that included both Moon and Mars demonstration missions. This paper describes the rover vehicle development being led by MDA in partnership with OHB and a number of European partners for one of the lunar scenarios being considered by ESA as a technology demonstrator for MSR. Lastly overview is given of robotics developments undertaken for Mars Sample Return as part of the Aurora Core and Preparatory programmes. Primary focus is given to surface robotics, namely for instrument positioning and sample handling, where concepts have been developed for the sample handling chain from acquisition to transfer for analysis and ultimate delivery to the ascent stage.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
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