Initial Design for Smart Micro Lunar Exploration Rovers for Intelligent Collaborative Tasking
2025 IAF Space Exploration Symposium at the 76th International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2025, Sydney, Avustralya, 29 Eylül - 03 Ekim 2025, ss.62-72, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Tam Metin Bildiri
- Doi Numarası: 10.52202/083076-0011
- Basıldığı Şehir: Sydney
- Basıldığı Ülke: Avustralya
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.62-72
- Anahtar Kelimeler: CHERI, Interplanetary Mission, Micro Rover, Navigation
- Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
The Chang'e-8 mission, slated for launch around 2028 as the final phase-four endeavor of China's lunar exploration program, is designed to advance lunar science through experiments on regional geological profiles, in situ resource utilization (ISRU), and small closed terrestrial ecosystems. This paper details the initial design and comprehensive operational strategy for two smart, identical 5 kg micro-rovers functioning as critical international payloads. These robots, named Challenging Environment Exploration Rovers for Intelligence (CHERI), are specifically engineered to rapidly explore and map the highly rugged terrain surrounding the Chang'e-8 landing site, with primary technical objectives including achieving autonomous, real-time navigation and high-accuracy positioning, 3D reconstruction, and precise 3D measurement of surface features. Operating cooperatively, the two rovers will investigate the local geological profile and produce a wide-view, high-fidelity 3D point cloud map of the environment. Crucially, their robust structure is designed to ensure operational capability and survival under the extreme thermal conditions characteristic of the Moon's South Pole. Furthermore, each rover carries an onboard AI processor to provide full autonomy in sophisticated task planning, real-time image interpretation, information extraction, and autonomous task scheduling, achieved by sharing information between the rovers. Collaborative navigation solutions rely primarily on their integrated cameras and Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), with overall navigation accuracy being significantly enhanced by Al-based image processing and their role in a mesh communication network established among the lander and all mission robots. The paper provides a thorough discussion of the initial rover design, offers an overview of the critical mission challenges, analyzes the key technological requirements, and presents the proposed solutions for intelligent, collaborative lunar exploration.