Mechanical design of three-wheeled lunar rover; “Tri-Star IV”

Japan is planning to send a rover to the moon to investigate the moon surface in the near future. Therefore, considerable researches and developments about the subject are being done. We particularly have continued to propose expandable three-wheeled rovers, and to develop them. This paper proposes the new concept of the three-wheeled rover “Tri-Star IV” composed of three spring wheels and two rotating arms, and describes its mechanical design.