6 accepted papers
In January 2024, a Japanese lunar lander successfully touched down on the moon as part of the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission. Accompanying the SLIM on its journey were two small rovers named lunar excursion vehicles (LEV-1 and 2). LEV-2, a transformable nano rover, was particular
This letter introduces a novel nano rover designed to transform its shape for efficient movement on lunar surfaces. The rover, resembling a compact ball, has a diameter of roughly 80 mm and a mass around 250 g. Its transformational mechanism allows for compactness during planetary transportation, wi
This study analyzes the surface sliding behavior of space probes in simulated extraterrestrial environments. When a space probe lands on an extraterrestrial body, its landing gear (footpad, landing legs) contacts and slides along the ground surface. The influence of various parameters (i.e., footpad…
This letter addresses the influences of footpad shape and ground condition on the motion behavior of a lander in a vacuum. To evaluate the influences, we first developed a drop test apparatus that can conduct repeated drop tests in the vacuum chamber. The footpad drop tests were then conducted with
The motion behavior of a skid-steering rover on loose terrain is modeled experimentally, and a position estimation method based on the model is proposed. Skid steering is a steering method adopted for various vehicles and robots. In this method, the vehicles steer by controlling a ratio between the
In this paper, we investigate and model the motion behaviors in the atmosphere and vacuum of the landing gear of a lunar probe, which contacts the granular material covering the lunar surface. Drop and friction tests were conducted using the footpads of a lander on a lunar regolith simulant. In the