3

Survey of past rover missions

All planetary rover missions to date have adopted wheeled chassis designs across a
range of rover sizes for mechanical simplicity and high reliability. This trend looks
set to continue for the foreseeable future. One exception was the Prop-M nano-
rover on the Russian Mars 3 lander (1971). The 4.5 kg Prop-M used a pair of skis
mounted onto legs. Regrettably, the mission failed after apparently landing
successfully.

3.1 LUNOKHOD

The first planetary rovers were the two Russian eight-wheeled Lunokhods which
landed on the Moon in 1970 and 1973 (Table 3.1) [95].

Table 3.1. Comparison of Lunokhod rovers.

Lunokhod 1 Lunokhod 2

Operational duration (da) 302 125

Distance traversed (km) 10.5 37.0

Average speed (km/h) 0.14 0.34

Maximum slope ( ) 22–27 22–27

Specific energy expenditure (Wh/m) 0.2–0.22 0.2–0.22

Motion resistance coefficient 0.15–0.25 0.15–0.25

Average slippage (%) 5–7 5–7

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 59

A. Ellery, Planetary Rovers, Springer Praxis Books,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-03259-2_3
60 Survey of past rover missions [Ch. 3

Figure 3.1. Lunokhod rover [credit NASA].

The Lunokhod design was the basis of the Luna probes (less wheels). These
vehicles were teleoperated in near-real time from Earth and were based on an
eight-wheeled chassis (Figure 3.1). Eight wheels were selected to minimize the
wheel size while ensuring high-tractive ability. A deployable rear ninth unpowered
trailing wheel measured actual traversed distance without slip. The bathtub design
was based around a centralized pressure vessel within which electronics, a radio-
isotope heat source and a battery were maintained in air at pressure. A deployable
lid with solar cells for power exposed a thermal radiator for daytime operation—
at night, the lid was closed over the radiator in survival mode. Lunokhod 1 (Luna
17) had a mass of 756 kg and explored Mare Imbrium traversing 11 km for 11
months (average 0.14 km/h speed) through teleoperation. The 840 kg Lunokhod 2
(Luna 21) traversed 37 km over the more rugged terrain of Mare Serenitatis over
8 weeks averaging 0.34 km/h due to its improved control system and improved TV
camera configuration. The duration of uninterrupted motion increased from 50 s
for Lunokhod 1 to 7 min for Lunokhod 2. They both employed eight rigid spoked
wheels of 51 cm diameter and 20 cm width with a torsion bar–based chassis. The
rims of each wheel were constructed from steel wire mesh reinforced by three
Sec. 3.3] 3.3 Mars Pathfinder (MPF) Sojourner 61

helical ribbon spring hoops of titanium corrugated with transverse titanium cleats.
Both Lunokhods had two gear speeds of 0.8 km/h and 2 km/h and were capable of
overcoming a step height of 0.4 m. Steering was accomplished through skid
steering. They were controlled from Earth by two five-man teams of teleoperators
(commander, pilot, navigator, engineer, and radio operator) on two-hour alternat-
ing shifts. Feedback to the pilot was through still image frames every 20 s with a
2.5 s signal delay for Lunokhod 1 which increased to a frame rate of one frame
every 3 s for Lunokhod 2. Lunokhod 2 overheated when loose soil fell onto the
radiator while the craft climbed out of a crater.

3.2 LUNAR ROVING VEHICLE (LRV)

The Apollo 15, 16, and 17 lunar rover vehicles (LRV) driven by suited astronauts
on the Moon in 1971–1972 were manned, four-wheeled vehicles but could be tele-
operated from ground if necessary if the two-astronaut crew were incapacitated
[96, 97]. The open ‘‘buggy-style’’ lunar rover had a mass of 218 kg with a payload
capacity of 490 kg (fully laden mass 708 kg) (Figure 3.2). It was designed for a
range of 4  30 km traverses within its 78 h operational lifetime at a continuously
variable speed of 0–16 km/h. It was 3.1 m in length with a wheelbase of 2.29 m
constructed from Al alloy tubing. The Apollo lunar rovers employed wheels
mounted onto its chassis by suspension arms attached to a torsion bar. They used
flexible, interwoven Zn-coated metallic wire mesh–based wheels. The wheels each
comprised an Al hub and had 81.8 cm diameter  23.0 cm wide tyres. Ti chevrons
covering 50% of the tyre surface acted as grousers to improve traction. Each
wheel was independently driven by a 190 W DC motor with an 80:1 harmonic
drive housed within the wheel hub.The torque generated at the drive shaft of each
wheel was 45 Nm. Unlike the Lunokhods, it employed double Ackermann
steering. Wheel fenders were used for dust protection of the astronaut crew and
payload. The Apollo lunar rover was limited to slopes of 19–23 . Apollo lunar
rovers generated a drawbar pull of 239 N per wheel fully loaded on a level surface
with an average wheel slip of 2–3% [98]. The fully loaded LRV averaged a mean
maximum pressure of 4.2 kN/m 2 and required an average energy consumption of
35–56 Wh/km.
Comparisons between the Lunokhods and the LRV are shown in Table 3.2.

3.3 MARS PATHFINDER (MPF) SOJOURNER

The Mars Pathfinder lander landed at Ares Vallis (19.4 N, 33.1 W) carrying the
Sojourner microrover in 1997 [99–102]. The Mars Pathfinder microrover Sojourner
had a mass of 11.2 kg (Mars weight of 38.6 N) and dimensions of 63 cm
(length)  28 cm (height)  48 cm (width) (Figure 3.3; Table 3.3). It used a six-
wheeled rocker-bogie lever assembly as its suspension system which has become
almost a standard in U.S. robotic rover chassis design. Each wheel was powered
62 Survey of past rover missions [Ch. 3

Figure 3.2. Apollo lunar rover vehicle (LRV) [credit NASA].

by a tractive motor plus four additional motors on the outer wheels for steering. It
was capable of moving over the Martian terrain at a maximum speed of 0.6 cm/s
(0.4 cm/s nominally) using its six 12.5 cm diameter  7.9 cm wide wheels. It had a
ground clearance of 13 cm with its center of mass close to the centroid of the
vehicle such that it could withstand a 45 tip angle.
Sojourner carried three cameras—a forward-pointing monochrome stereo
pair and a rear color camera for instrument pointing. However, its main naviga-
tion stereo panoramic camera pair resided on the Pathfinder lander on a telescopic
mast. Sojourner had 16  0.127 mm thick steel cleats per wheel which protruded
1 cm on each wheel. The vehicle could turn on the spot with a 37 cm turning
radius and a top steering speed of 7 /s; steering angle feedback was provided by
potentiometers. Sojourner traveled at speeds of 15 cm/s and stopped for hazard
detection every 6.5 cm (one wheel radius). Sojourner drew 4 W to drive the wheels,
1 W for the microcontroller, and 1W for onboard navigation. Hazard detection
Sec. 3.4] 3.4 Mars Exploration Rovers 63

Table 3.2. Comparison of LRV and Lunokhod.

Parameter Lunokhod 1 LRV

Mass (kg) 756 708 (loaded)

Chassis mass (kg) 105

Load/wheel (N) 153.4 287.3

Wheel diameter (cm) 51 81

Wheel width (cm) 20 22

Speed (km/h) 0.8/2.0 13 (max)

Base (m) 1.7 2.29 (2.06 platform only)

Track (m) 1.6 1.83

Clearance (m) 0.38 0.36

Turning radius (m) 2.7 3

Obstacle negotiation (m) 0.35 0.3 (height), 0.7 (crevasse), 25 (slope)

was performed using two hazard cameras and five laser diode–based laser stripe
emitters. Sojourner traversed a total of 106 m at 0.036 km/h over its month-long
mission duration [103]. However, it never ventured farther than a 10 m range from
the Pathfinder lander—this range limitation was imposed by the rover–lander
communications link radiation pattern integrity and the line-of-sight resolution of
the Pathfinder lander camera which was used for rover navigation.
Sojourner steered autonomously (dead reckoning) to avoid obstacles using its
wheel odometry, potentiometers, gyroscopes, and accelerometers to generate steer-
ing requirements to reach commanded goal locations. Sojourner hazard detection
was based on proximity sensors including a frontal stereo camera pair, five laser
striping projectors, and frontal contact sensors.
Sojournor traversed a total of 106 m (but within 10 m of the lander) via 114
commanded movements. This range limitation was imposed by the rover–lander
communications link and the line-of-sight resolution of the Pathfinder lander
camera which was used for rover navigation.

3.4 MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS

Much of the robotics research for planetary rovers has been developed on the
NASA/JPL FIDO (Field Integrated Design and Operations) rover testbed [104,
105]. It has a mass of 70 kg with dimensions of 85 (width)  105 (length)  55
(height) cm and a ground clearance of 23 cm. As a development from Sojourner
64 Survey of past rover missions [Ch. 3

Figure 3.3. Pathfinder Sojourner microrover: (a) actual and (b) schematic [credit JPL/NASA].
Sec. 3.4] 3.4 Mars Exploration Rovers 65

Table 3.3. Sojourner microrover properties [adapted from Moore et al., 1997].

Sojourner rover parameter Value

Deployed length 62 cm

Deployed width 47 cm

Deployed height 32 cm

Mass 10.5 kg

Weight on Mars 39.1 N

Mass/wheel axle (front) 27%

Mass/wheel axle (middle) 36%

Mass/wheel axle (rear) 37%

Nominal speed 0.4 m/min

Rough terrain speed 0.25 m/min

Turning speed 7 /s

Wheel diameter 13 cm

Wheel width 7 cm

Drive motor no-load current 9–13 mA

Drive motor torque factor 3.9–4.4 Nm/mA

Nominal motor voltage 15.5 V DC

Motor stall torque 3.0–4.5 Nm

Stall current at 0 C 196 mA

and other rover testbeds such as the Rocky series, it is a six-wheeled rocker-bogie
chassis–based rover (though all six wheels are steerable). It has an average speed
of 200 m/h over favorable terrain or 100 m/day over rough terrain with a nominal
range of 10 km. Each wheel is driven and steered independently with 35 Nm torque
per wheel, each wheel having a diameter of 20 cm to provide <9 cm/s vehicle
speed. It carries a 4 DOF (degree of freedom) mast with a mast-mounted stereo
panoramic camera, an infrared point spectrometer, Raman and Mossbauer spec-
trometers, minirock corer and a 4 DOF robot arm with an arm-mounted
microcamera and gripper. It possesses an inertial navigation unit incorporating
three-axis gyroscopes and accelerometers, sun sensor, and wheel odometry to
support multisensory fusion and navigation.
66 Survey of past rover missions [Ch. 3

The dual-mission Mars Exploration Rovers (MER)—Spirit at the Gusev

crater and Opportunity at the Meridiani Planum were identical—first began opera-
tions in 2004 and have far exceeded their original 90-day design lifetimes. Their
mission was to characterize the geology of their local landing sites as ‘‘robotic
geologists’’ in search of clues for aqueous processes contextual to Mars’ astro-
biology potential. Both rovers had a mass of 174 kg with a total vehicle length of
1.6 m and wheel baseline width 1.22 m and length 1.41 m [106, 107] (Figure 3.4).
The chassis was a six-wheeled rocker-bogie springless suspension design inherited
from the Sojourner rover. The rover structure was based on composite panels with
titanium alloy fittings while the rocker suspension was constructed from titanium
alloy mounting six aluminum alloy wheels. Each wheel had a diameter of 25 cm
diameter with the six-wheel configuration defining a 1.4 m length  1.2 m wide
footprint. Each wheel was independently driven, the four corner wheels being
steerable for on-the-spot turning (with turn radius of 1.9 m). However, skid
steering could reduce the turning circle to 0.9 m if necessary. Each wheel was
cleated for increased traction. The design average traverse speed was 100 m/day
including stops constrained by both energy consumption limitations and the risks
inherent in target designation beyond 100 m. A 1.4 m tall pan–tilt PanCam mast
assembly mounted both navigation and science stereo camera platforms and
thermal emission sensors. Hazard camera pairs were mounted onto the front and
back of the rover. With the PanCam mast assembly deployed, each MER was
1.54 m high with a ground clearance of 0.3 m while each wheel was 0.25 m in
diameter defining the maximum negotiable obstacle height. The mast mounted
both the scientific stereoscopic PanCam and the traverse-supporting stereoscopic
NavCams. The maximum speed of the rover on flat ground was 4 cm/s but hazard
avoidance would reduce this to 1 cm/s. The center of mass of the rover resided
close to the rocker-bogie pivot giving it 45 lateral stability though software fault
protection flagged any tilt exceeding 30 with an alarm condition. Each rover
carried a Litton LN-200 inertial measurement unit incorporating three-axis tilt
and rate data. MOLA data were used to localize the rover by triangulation from
orbit initially. UHF Doppler tracking from orbit provides coarse navigation to
within 100 m accuracy supplemented by additional in situ techniques. Onboard
self-localization error using onboard sensors was 10% and cumulative but the
adoption of visual odometry reduced this error to 1%. The rover moves 30 cm
traverse segments at 5 cm/s at a time separated by stops of 20 s for navigation
functions with daily traverses usually limited to around 10 m (though this con-
straint was relaxed later in the mission). Hazard detection was enabled through
the hazard cameras (HazCam) the images from which were processed while static.
As the terrain is imaged, they are collected incrementally into world model maps
of 10  10 m. All other onboard data—wheel encoders, motor currents, steering
headings, lever angles, tilt, etc.—are sampled at 8 Hz.
The MERs employed a highly limited scientific sensor suite comprising:
(i) multispectral scientific PanCam stereo pair with two 1024  1024 CCDs each
with a 14-band filter wheel sensitive to 400–1,100 nm with 0.28 mrad/pixel angular
resolution; (ii) miniature thermal emission spectrometer based on the Michelson
Sec. 3.4] 3.4 Mars Exploration Rovers 67

Figure 3.4. Mars Exploration Rover (MER): (a) actual and (b) schematic [credit NASA JPL].
68 Survey of past rover missions [Ch. 3

Figure 3.5. Sojourner, Mars Exploration Rover, and Curiosity [credit NASA JPL].

interferometer with a spectral resolution of 10 cm over the wavelength range

5–29 mm for mineral infrared absorption spectra; (iii) a 5 DOF 0.7 m long robotic
instrument deployment arm for pointing science instruments; (iv) rock abrasion
tool with mechanical grinding heads at the end of the arm to remove 5 mm deep
weathered rind from rocks; (v) close-up microscopic imager with a resolution of
30 m per pixel; (vi) alpha-particle proton X-ray spectrometer for rock and soil
elemental analysis; (vii) Mössbauer spectrometer to determine rock/soil oxidation
state and Fe-bearing mineral identification by measuring resonant absorption of
-rays from a 57 Co source. The MERs have been an unprecedented success. In
2009, Spirit’s wheels sank into a sandtrap while climbing a slope forcing it to
become a fixed station after traversing 7.73 km (6 years, 3 months). Opportunity
had covered 33.2 km by August 2011 (7 years, 6 months). The trend of increasing
rover size (and by implication capability) from Sojourner to MER has continued
with Curiosity (Figure 3.5) .

3.5 MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover is a development from MER
which was launched and successfully landed on the Martian surface in 2012 (its
Sec. 3.5] 3.5 Mars Science Laboratory 69

Figure 3.6. Curiosity rover [credit NASA].

mission had just begun at the time of writing) (Figure 3.6). It is significantly larger
at 900 kg with 51 cm diameter wheels in a rocker-bogie configuration. Curiosity’s
rocker-bogie chassis is based on 0.5 m diameter wheels with a similar design to
Spirit and Opportunity. Its top speed is 4 cm/s (0.1 mph) but it is nominally oper-
ated at half-speed. It is capable of traversing at 90 m/h and climbing obstacles up
to 75 cm in height. Its primary mission in the 154 km diameter Gale crater is to
cover 5 km possibly as much as 20 km from its landing site over two years enabled
by a radioisotope thermal generator power source. Apart from its scientific
instrumentation, its basic design and capabilities are derived from the MERs.
It is currently planned to launch a clone of the Curiosity rover to Mars in
2020.