ISTVS Digital Event Series

Predicting planetary rover mobility in reduced gravity using 1-g experiments

Aerospace Robotics Lab, Concordia University

Traversing granular regolith, especially in reduced gravity environments, remains a potential challenge for wheeled rovers. Mitigating hazards for planetary exploration rovers requires testing in representative environments, but direct Earth-based testing fails to account for the effect of reduced gravity on the soil itself. This talk considers Earth-based rover testing methods and their evaluation against experimental data from reduced-gravity parabolic flights. Additionally, application of one of these methods to testing potential future lunar rovers under development by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is demonstrated. Finally, guidelines for conducting and interpreting 1-g mobility tests for lunar rovers are outlined.

Adriana Daca will soon complete her PhD in the Aerospace Robotics Lab at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where she studies wheel-soil interactions in reduced gravity under the supervision of Professor Krzysztof Skonieczny. Since gaining her MASc in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies in 2015, Adriana has worked in space robotics, first in engineering support for International Space Station robotics, and more recently pursuing her interests in planetary rover mobility. Adriana has had several related papers published including two in the Journal of Terramechanics for which she was the first author.

Adriana Daca | 2023-01-31