3 accepted papers
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