Planetary Child Rover for Lava Tube Exploration and Its Parametric Design

doi:10.3901/JME.2023.01.019

Abstract

Abstract: Planetary lava tubes which are shortcuts into the extraterrestrial ground are of particular interest to scientific and mineral exploration. This research presents a new tethered planetary lava tube exploration rover and researches its parametric design method. With consideration of steering and tether-assisted release and retrieve on the cliff of the lava tube, the configuration of the planetary rover is designed. Based on terramechanics, the parametric optimization design of the tethered three-wheeled mobile mechanism is completed with consideration of mobility on deformable terrains around the entrance of the lava tube and in the accumulation area at the bottom of the lava tube, as well as the load distribution, placidity and anti-tipping on the non-deformable terrain the of lava tube. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the planetary rover designed by using the proposed method satisfies the technical requirements; compared with those without optimization, the rover has stronger mobility, which supports the parametric design of multi-wheel (4-wheel, 6-wheel, etc.) planetary rovers.

Key words: lava tube exploration, planetary child rover, parametric design, multi-wheeled mobile system, terramechanics

CLC Number:

TH122

HUANG Lan, YU Zhaowei, DING Liang, YANG Huaiguang, GAO Haibo, DENG Zongquan, YANG Chenguang. Planetary Child Rover for Lava Tube Exploration and Its Parametric Design[J]. Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2023, 59(1): 19-34.

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