NASA’s CADRE Rovers Ready to Explore the Moon in Sync as Tech Demo
A trio of small rovers, known as CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration), are set to embark on a groundbreaking mission to explore the Moon together. These solar-powered rovers, about the size of a carry-on suitcase, have been meticulously constructed and tested by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The goal of this technology demonstration is to showcase the potential of multirobot missions and their ability to autonomously work as a team without explicit commands from mission controllers on Earth.
The CADRE rovers will be installed on a lander, which will be sent to the Moon’s Reiner Gamma region. During the lunar day, which lasts approximately 14 days on Earth, these rovers will conduct experiments by autonomously exploring, mapping, and using ground-penetrating radar to study the Moon’s surface. The hope is that this mission will pave the way for future missions involving teams of robots working together to gather scientific data in support of astronauts.
Engineers have worked tirelessly to ensure the readiness of these rovers. They have put in long hours test-driving the rovers and resolving any issues that arose during the testing phase. Subha Comandur, CADRE project manager at JPL, expressed her satisfaction with the team’s hard work, stating, “Now we know these rovers are ready to show what a team of little space robots can accomplish together.”
The testing process has been rigorous, with the rovers subjected to extreme environmental conditions to ensure their durability. They have been exposed to the airless conditions of space and extreme hot and cold temperatures in a thermal vacuum chamber. Additionally, they have been subjected to intense vibrations on a “shaker table” to simulate the rocket launch into space. Despite the nerve-wracking nature of these tests, JPL’s Guy Zohar, the project’s flight system manager, expressed his relief that each test has been successful.
Environmental testing has also been conducted on three hardware elements mounted on the lander. These include a base station for communication with the rovers, a camera to provide a view of the rovers’ activities, and deployer systems to lower the rovers to the lunar surface.
In addition to hardware testing, engineers have been working on CADRE’s cooperative autonomy software. They have conducted tests with full-scale versions of the rovers in JPL’s Mars Yard, where the rovers demonstrated their ability to drive together in formation, adjust plans as a group when faced with obstacles, and pause as a team when one rover’s battery charge was low. These tests have prepared the rovers for the unique environment they will encounter on the Moon.
The next step for the CADRE mission is to ship the hardware to Intuitive Machines for installation on a Nova-C lander. This lander will be launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The CADRE technology demonstration project is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is part of the Game Changing Development program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. It is a payload under NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, with support from NASA’s Glenn Research Center and Ames Research Center. Motiv Space Systems designed and built key hardware elements, while Clemson University contributed research in support of the project.
The CADRE mission represents an exciting step forward in robotic exploration of the Moon. By showcasing the capabilities of multirobot missions, it opens up possibilities for future missions that can gather simultaneous, distributed scientific measurements. As we look toward a future of human exploration on the Moon, these rovers will play a crucial role in paving the way for astronauts and expanding our understanding of Earth’s celestial neighbor.
For more information about CADRE, visit the official NASA website.