Lunar Rover Optimization Platform for Wheel Traction Studies

Robotic mobility systems expand the reach of future scientific and exploration missions to celestial bodies. Understanding the traction performance of these systems is necessary knowledge that informs mission-level requirements, such as power budgets and navigation envelopes. This paper covers the design, development, and verification of the four wheeled lunar rover optimization platform (LROP). This low mass platform is targeted to emulate future medium class rovers weighing up to 882 N (90 kg earth). The LROP has the ability to conduct various wheel design experiments such as obstacle traversal, slope ascent, and drawbar pull over a wheel loading range of 44 to 223 N. The platform also has the ability to shift its center of gravity (CG) laterally and longitudinally to explore the CG shift effects on mobility performance. This knowledge is valuable for future rover designers exploring different payload packaging solutions. In this paper, results from obstacle traversal test with varying angle of attack (AOA) and longitudinal CG position are reported along with results from slope ascent testing, which proved-out the LROPs capabilities.