Real-Time Measurement of Wheel Performance on a Rover

Wind-blown sand on Mars produces a high risk of entrapment for Mars rovers. This was evident when the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit was immobilized in a wind blown sand dune, effectively causing the eventual end of its mission. Because there is currently no practical method of quantifying the slip and sinkage of wheels in real-time, remote rover drivers are forced to avoid areas deemed risky, resulting in either missed science or added time and energy driving to avoid hazards. Investment in this proposal will develop techniques for measuring wheel performance in real-time. On-board wheel performance measurements with hazard detection and avoidance software would allow rover drivers to operate in more hazardous driving areas by minimizing the risk of entrapment. The techniques developed could be used to enhance current rover missions and enable future rovers to explore previously unattainable areas. The goal is to investigate at least three real time techniques for measuring wheel sinkage and slip that can be implemented on the Mars 2020 rover with minimal or no impact of additional hardware.

The proposed work will provide a very capable traction testing vehicle with the capacity to understand and test local real-time wheel performance measurements. The capabilities of the SLOPE Lab to support current and future missions will be improved by providing previously unattainable measurements of wheel performance, which can be used to generate algorithms to reduce the risk of entrapment of current and future rovers. Windblown sand on Mars has proven to be very difficult to traverse. It is predicted that the Mars 2020 rover will be required to avoid these areas of high entrapment risk. The ability to measure wheel slip and sinkage would allow the rover to attempt high risk areas without risking entrapment by measuring real-\xad-time wheel performance. If the wheel performance approaches a limit the rover can take action to prevent entrapment. Currently the only way to assess wheel performance is after the rover is nearly entrapped.

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