NASA Uses Arctic for Robotics Test

NASA has begun testing on the new autonomous lunar rovers, arctic conditions are ideal for testing. These new rovers are the first autonomous rovers to be put onto the moon by the United States, and their future goal is to make the jobs of moon bound astronauts easier. The Soviet Union was the first nation to use a remotely guided vehicle on the moon, finally NASA believes it is a good idea

The rovers currently in design are "K10" series rovers. These rovers are currently in initial testing, but NASA officials hope to have them on the moon by 2020. Unlike most rovers, these are not controlled from Mission Control here on Earth. Rather these rovers are controlled by astronauts on the moon. Engineers on the NASA Robotics team believe that there will be approximately a 1.5 second delay in communicating with the rover. Having such a short time delay give more availability to precise movements compared to past rover projects.

The current goal of the rover project is to simplify the astronauts job, by taking care of dangerous, dirty, and dull jobs. If the project is a success and the rovers work well, it could possibly increase productivity on the moon. The main task of the rovers is to obtain 3D maps of the terrain as well as underground images.. Moving at near human walking speed, the 3D laser scanners can map topographic features at approximately 3,280 feet. The ground-sensing radar can graph terrain at up to 16.4 feet underground. Currently the rover is controlled using a connection over 803.11g. The rover is also equipped with a GPS system, it is still unknown as to how GPS will work on the moon. A stereo camera, as well as suntrackers are also placed on the rover.

Currently the rover costs approximately $100,000 each to manufacture parts, as well as assemble. It is still not know what the cost is including development, and software. As for a space ready vehicle a price is still unknown because the project is still in its very early stages. Nasa chose the Haughton Crater in Canada for their test because of the similarity to craters on the moon. The terrain in the crater is very dry and cold, with many small rocks as well as lager rocks to use as possible obstacles to the rover. Currently the NASA Robotics team is testing the radar and mapping devices in order to test quality and effectiveness. "The robots are covering the area in lawnmower-like paths at human walking speeds to systematically map above and below ground," Said said Terry Fong, director of the Intelligent Robots Group at Ames

Although it is still to early to tell what the future use of these autonomous rovers is, it is likely they will be used in future moon missions. NASA engineers also believe that with some improvement it is possible that similar technologies will be used in future Mars rovers but "On Mars, autonomy is a necessity, but Mars is further in the future" Said Maria Bualat, a computer engineer on the robotics team at NASA.