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Completed TRL 3 (started at 2, targeting 3)
Extraterrestrial exploration requires innovation in locomotion methods and the ability to maneuver rough terrain. Current rover trajectories on Mars must be carefully planned to minimize risk, reducing the set of reachable locations and slowing down progress. Solutions such as active suspension, legged robots, and tensegrities are promising but introduce varying levels of mechanical and computational complexity and thus risk. Meanwhile, flywheels are currently the standard for precision attitude control. Consequently, a simple, quickly-realizable solution for additional terrain flexibility is to use the gyrodynamic properties of a flywheel to redistribute a rover’s weight over its wheels in order to maximize traction forces and stability. The flywheel can also serve as a rechargeable energy source to offload battery capacity and cycling requirements. Thus this proposal seeks to develop both TA 4.2.5 Surface Mobility and TA 3.2.2 Flywheel Energy Storage. The redistribution of normal forces can increase mobility by (1) applying increased force on surfaces with better friction properties, (2) reducing force on wheels ascending obstacles, (3) reducing force on wheels experiencing sinkage, and (4) maintaining stability on a steep or uneven surface. This proposal seeks to characterize how much gyrodynamic force is necessary to effectively address these challenging scenarios. By integrating a flywheel on an adjustable chassis and designing a standard configurable test track, mobility and energy metrics can be measured. These results can then inform the design parameters of a flywheel module based on expected use case and system requirements. Immediate terrains of interest may be sandy, rocky surfaces like Mars, but the technology can extend to icy worlds like Europa and Enceladus. This technology could widen the range of feasible destinations for greater scientific return, increase stability to accommodate more aggressive sampling methods, minimize wheel damage due to slip, and reduce mission risk of entrapment by difficult terrain.
Immediate terrains of interest may be sandy, rocky surfaces like Mars, but the technology can extend to icy worlds like Europa and Enceladus. This technology could widen the range of feasible destinations for greater scientific return, increase stability to accommodate more aggressive sampling methods, minimize wheel damage due to slip, and reduce mission risk of entrapment by difficult terrain.
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