Hardware design of a spherical mini-rover

In this hardware project the students designed the prototype of a novel mini-rover for the exploration of a planetary surface. In an actual application, a large number of such miniature roving devices would be released from a landing craft. Each rover would be equipped with a Cd 109 radio-isotope source (a gamma ray emitter) irradiating the planetary surface below the rover, and an x-ray fluorescence detector for a quantitative assay of high atomic weight elements in the planet's surface. (Similar, miniaturized, hand-held devices have recently been developed for use in gold mines). The device developed by the students was limited to demonstrating the mechanical and electrical drive. The geometric external shape is a sphere; hence there is no danger of the rover being turned on its back and stopped. Propulsion is by means of an interior mass, eccentric to the sphere and driven by an electric motor. In an inter-disciplinary effort in mechanical and electrical engineering, the students designed the mechanical parts, built the transistorized circuit board, and tested the device.