NASA’s Trio of Mini Rovers Set to Explore the Moon Together
In an exciting development for lunar exploration, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California has completed the assembly of a trio of small rovers that will work together to explore the Moon. These solar-powered rovers, part of the Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE) technology demonstration, are about the size of a carry-on suitcase and have undergone rigorous testing to ensure their durability in the harsh lunar environment.
The primary objective of the CADRE project is to demonstrate that a group of robotic spacecraft can collaborate and accomplish tasks without explicit commands from mission controllers on Earth. If successful, this technology could pave the way for future missions involving teams of robots working together to conduct simultaneous scientific measurements, potentially in support of astronauts.
The rovers and associated hardware will be installed on a lander destined for the Moon’s Reiner Gamma region. During the daylight hours of a lunar day, which is equivalent to about 14 days on Earth, these rovers will autonomously explore, map, and use ground-penetrating radar to study the Moon’s surface.
“We have been in overdrive getting this tech demo ready for its lunar adventure,” said Subha Comandur, CADRE project manager at JPL. “It’s been months of nearly round-the-clock testing and sometimes re-testing, but the team’s hard work is paying off. Now we know these rovers are ready to show what a team of little space robots can accomplish together.”
To ensure the rovers’ resilience, engineers at JPL subjected them to a series of extreme environmental tests. The hardware was exposed to the airless conditions of space and extreme hot and cold temperatures in a thermal vacuum chamber. Additionally, the rovers were clamped to a special “shaker table” that simulated the intense vibrations experienced during launch.
“This is what we submit our rovers to: ‘shake’ to simulate the rocket launch itself and ‘bake’ to simulate the extreme temperatures of space. It’s very nerve-wracking to witness in person,” explained Guy Zohar, the project’s flight system manager at JPL. “We’re using many carefully selected commercial parts on our project. We expect them to work, but we’re always a little worried when we go into testing. Happily, each test has ultimately been successful.”
In addition to testing the rovers, engineers also conducted environmental tests on the hardware elements mounted on the lander. These include a base station for communication with the rovers, a camera to capture their activities, and deployer systems that will lower the rovers to the lunar surface using a fiber tether.
While hardware testing was underway, engineers focused on developing and testing the cooperative autonomy software. Full-scale versions of the rovers, called development models, were deployed in JPL’s Mars Yard to assess their ability to work together. The test rovers successfully drove in formation, adjusted their plans as a group when faced with obstacles, and paused when one rover’s battery charge was low, demonstrating their ability to function as a team.
Jean-Pierre de la Croix, CADRE principal investigator and autonomy lead at JPL, emphasized the importance of the rovers’ ability to adapt to unexpected situations. “Dealing with curveballs – that’s important for the autonomy. The key is the robots respond to things going off plan, then they replan and are still successful,” he said. “We’re going to a unique environment on the Moon, and there will, of course, be some unknowns. We’ve done our best to prepare for those by testing software and hardware together in various situations.”
The next step for the CADRE project is shipping the hardware to Intuitive Machines for installation on a Nova-C lander. This lander will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Managed by JPL for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, the CADRE technology demonstration project is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The project received support from NASA’s Glenn Research Center and Ames Research Center, as well as hardware contributions from Motiv Space Systems and research support from Clemson University.
The CADRE project represents an exciting leap forward in lunar exploration, showcasing the potential of collaborative robotic missions on the Moon. As these mini rovers embark on their lunar adventure, they hold the promise of revolutionizing our understanding of Earth’s celestial neighbor.