To the moon?

Robots, Preparation, Considerations

Why not send robot rovers?• US and Russia sent many robots to test various things re

the race to the moon • But now? – Not so much

• We know how to build very hardy long range autonomous rovers

• The moon is easier for rovers– Close enough to teleoperate and near live view– Much lower cost. – We need them to do research and scouting for good mentions

Surveyor

• 1966 – 1968• Seven robotic missions– Primary goal was soft-landing experiments• Impact trajectory with last 3 minutes deceleration

– Five soft land– Two failed and crashed• One possibly exploded• Other failed to decelerate

Luna programme (59 – 76)

Luna 1, Luna 3

Luna 16

Lunokhod 2

• 1973 • Only operated in lunar day– Isotope heating and hibernation in lunar night

• Mission– Astronomical base evaluation, laser ranging, solar

xray observing, measure magnetic fields, and soil characteristics

• Covered about 24 miles over 6 months– Done in by the ubiquitous moon dust

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Lunokhod_detail.jpg/796px-Lunokhod_detail.jpg

Scarab

• Lunar Rover Initiative– Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon

• Drilling (water ice especially) and science rover• 1 m drill• Suspension allows laying on ground for drilling

stability– Navigates steep terrain well

• Laser scanning for night work

Lunar Precursor Robotic Program• Robotic mission preparing for human return to moon

– Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)• Low altitude scans for landing sites, resources, 3D mapping, etc.

– Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)• Impacted Atlas V upper stage with south pole

– Created 10 km plume for study by science package. – Analysis yielded much information about amount of water and other materials at pole.

» Looking for water, hydrocarbons, organics– Infrared and visible light spectrometers– Near-infrared cameras, visible light camera– Visible radiometer

– Total combined cost - $583 million

LRO Payload

• CRaTER – Cosmic ray telescope – radiation impact• DLRE – radiometer experiments for surface emissions• LAMP – peers into even deeply shadowed craters• LEND – neutron dectector looking for subsurface ice• LOLA – Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter• LROC – Narrow anfle and wide angle cameras

providing more 3D prespective. 70-100 TB of data• Mini-RF – new communications technologies and RF

based water-ice finders