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Design of the MESUR/pathfinder microroverThe use of unmanned robotic vehicles to assist in the exploration of Mars and other planets has been of interest to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for several decades and has been the focus of an ongoing research program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for a similar period of time. As a result of these research activities, JPL is in the process of designing and building a small (7-9 kg) microrover to be flown aboard the Mars Environmental Survey Mission (MESUR)/Pathfinder spacecraft, which is tentatively to be launched to Mars in late 1997. The microrover will perform a variety of technology experiments designed to provide information critical to the design of future planetary rovers. In addition, the microrover will perform several science and lander related experiments using specialized onboard instruments. To enable the microrover to perform these experiments at selected target areas and at the same time deal with the long time delays (and limited communications bandwidth), a control/navigation approach combining the use of operator-designated waypoints and onboard behavior control has been adopted. The design of the MESUR/Pathfinder microrover and the overall manner in which it is controlled are described herein.
Document ID
19940029515
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Stone, Henry W.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1994
Publication Information
Publication: NASA. Johnson Space Center, The Seventh Annual Workshop on Space Operations Applications and Research (SOAR 1993), Volume 1
Subject Category
Mechanical Engineering
Accession Number
94N34021
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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