Multi-Level Soil Sensing Systems to Identify Safe Trafficability Areas for Extra-Planetary Rovers

Abstract

A handful of robotic exploration rovers have had successful landings and missions on Mars. These missions, however, were not without issues. The Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) Opportunity and Spirit, as examples, had several difficulties in traversing the terrain; and Spirit’s mission ultimately ended due to becoming permanently embedded in loose soil. This<br/>paper describes the development of multiple sensor systems on a highly-mobile scout rover with overlapping areas of detection for data correlation and fault redundancy; allowing for collection of both rapid, cursory data while the rover is in motion and highlydetailed soil characteristic information while the rover is stopped. The mission-critical primary rover will also possess its own direct and remote sensing systems for added mission safety.