• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.413-422
• /
• 2012

In recent years, a number of missions have been planned and conducted worldwide on the planets such as Mars, which involves the unmanned robotic exploration with the use of rover. The rover is an important system for unmanned planetary exploration, performing the locomotion and sample collection and analysis at the exploration target of the planetary surface designated by the operator. This study investigates the development of mobility system for the rover ground model necessary to the planetary surface exploration for the benefit of future planetary exploration mission in Korea. First, the requirements for the rover mobility system are summarized and a new mechanism is proposed for a stable performance on rough terrain which consists of the passive suspension system with 8 wheeled double 4-bar linkage (DFBL), followed by the performance evaluation for the mechanism of the mobility system based on the shape design and simulation. The proposed mobility system DFBL was compared with the Rocker-Bogie suspension system of US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration and 8 wheeled mobility system CRAB8 developed in Switzerland, using the simulation to demonstrate the superiority with respect to the stability of locomotion. On the basis of the simulation results, a general system configuration was proposed and designed for the rover manufacture.

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.213-228
• /
• 2023

Unmanned exploration rovers serve as tools for investigating mineral resources, mining, and carrying out various scientific on celestial bodies beyond Earth, acting on behalf of humans. Recently, not only the United States but also other countries such as Japan, India and China have been attempting to develop unmanned planetary exploration rovers for space development or have successfully operated them on other celestial bodies. This has accelerated the enthusiasm for space exploration and development. However, the development and operation of unmanned rovers for planetary exploration still entail significant costs and high risks, making it difficult for universities or companies to undertake such project independently without the guidance of financial backing from government entities. In this paper, we describe the recent development trends of micro-rovers, known as Cube Rovers, which inherit the concepts and definitions of traditional Cube Sat. We also introduce the potential and expectations of Cube Rovers through the necessity of their development and ongoing planetary exploration cases.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.381-387
• /
• 2012

The planetary exploration rover executes various missions after moving to the target point in an unknown environment in the shortest distance. Such missions include the researches for geological and climatic conditions as well as the existence of water or living creatures. If there is any obstacle on the way, it is detected by such sensors as ultrasonic sensor, infrared light sensor, stereo vision, and laser ranger finder. After the obtained data is transferred to the main controller of the rover, decisions can be made to either overcome or avoid the obstacle on the way based on the operating algorithm of the rover. All the planetary exploration rovers which have been developed until now receive the information of the height or width of the obstacle from such sensors before analyzing it in order to find out whether it is possible to overcome the obstacle or not. If it is decided to be better to overcome the obstacle in terms of the operating safety and the electric consumption of the rover, it is generally made to overcome it. Therefore, for the purpose of carrying out the planetary exploration task, it is necessary to design the proper suspension system of the rover which enables it to safely overcome any obstacle on the way on the surface in any unknown environment. This study focuses on the design of the new double 4-bar linkage type of suspension system applied to the Korea Aerospace Research Institute rover (a tentatively name) that is currently in the process of development by our institute in order to develop the planetary exploration rover which absolutely requires the capacity of overcoming any obstacle. Throughout this study, the negative moment which harms the capacity of the rover for overcoming an obstacle was induced through the dynamical modeling process for the rocker-bogie applied to the Mars exploration rover of the US and the improved version of rocker-bogie as well as the suggested double 4-bar linkage type of suspension system. Also, based on the height of the obstacle, a simulation was carried out for the negative moment of the suspension system before the excellence of the suspension system suggested through the comparison of responding characteristics was proved.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.245-254
• /
• 2010

Technology of surface investigation using X-ray is one of widely used technology nowadays. This technique has been numerously used for planetary surface investigations for both orbital and rover scientific instruments. Korea has a plan to send an orbiter and lander to the Moon by the early 2020s. Therefore, the time has come for Korean researchers to develop major scientific instruments and start to do research on basic research for the Moon. Because of this situation, we firstly investigate X-ray technology, which is essential as one of core techniques of planetary remote sensing from the orbit and ground. This paper presents the current status of planetary exploration using X-ray techniques and new development of worldwide X-ray technology which could be adapted for prospective planetary missions.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.347-351
• /
• 2014

Planetary exploration rovers are likely to make a trip on a winding and sloping road of irregular surfaces to the destination in order to accomplish scientific missions. One of the key technologies for rovers is a suspension for traveling and performing exploration missions; the suspension is an essential area of technology for a stable movement of a rover. In this study, an 8-wheel suspension is designed to enable efficient climbing of slopes on a passage to the destination. For the two front wheels among the eight wheels, the moment at the pivot connecting two wheels is derived when the distance between the wheels and the torque of wheels are same. A test experiment was performed to compare the magnitude of moment according to the change in tilt angle and the position of the pivot. Finally, a suspension design considering the position of the pivot was proposed to enhance the hill-climbing performance.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.677-692
• /
• 2009

In recent years, lots of studies on the planetary rover systems have been performed around space advanced agencies such as NASA, ESA, JAXA, etc. Among the various technologies for the planetary rover system, the mobility system, navigation algorithm, and scientific payload have been focused particularly. In this paper, the conceptual design for a ground-based model of planetary rover's mobility system to evaluate mobility and moving stability on ground is presented. The status of overseas research and development of the planetary rover systems is also addressed in terms of technical issues. And then, the requirements of the planetary rover's mobility system are derived by means of considering mobility and stability. The designed rover's mobility system has an active suspension with 6 legs that controls 6 joints on the each leg in order to achieve high stability and mobility. This kind of mobility system has already applied to the ATHELE of NASA for various purposes such as transportation and habitation for human lunar exploration activities in the near future (i.e., Constellation program). However, the proposed system has been designed by focusing on the small-sized unmanned explorations, which may be applied for the future Korea Lunar exploration missions. Therefore, we expect that this study will be an useful reference and experience in order to develop the planetary exploration rover system in Korea.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.43-43
• /
• 2009

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
• /
• 2009.04a
• /
• pp.59.2-59.2
• /
• 2009

• Journal of Space Technology and Applications
• /
• v.3 no.4
• /
• pp.373-384
• /
• 2023

Initiated as Korea's inaugural space exploration endeavor, the lunar exploration development project has resulted not only the Danuri lunar orbiter but also payloads designed to achieve mission objectives and the associated Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) Deep-space Ground System for the operation and control of the Danuri. Scientific data gathered by four scientific payloads, developed by domestic institutions and installed on board the Danuri, will be publicly available starting January 2024. To facilitate this, the first-ever Korean space exploration scientific data management and public release system, KARI Planetary Data System (KPDS), has been developed. This paper provides details on the configuration and functions of the established KPDS website.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.372-377
• /
• 2015

In this paper, the consideration factors that affect the actual driving of a rover wheel was examined based on the wheel-terrain model. For the evaluation of driving performance in a real environment, the test bed of the rover wheel consists of the driving part of the wheel and sensing part of the various parameters was designed and assembled. Using the test bed, the preliminary driving experiment concerning the slip ratio, sinkage, and friction force according to the rotational velocity and the shape of the wheel were carried out and evaluated. The wheel test bed and the experiment results are expected to contribute to finding the optimal result in the designing of the wheel shape and the planning of the driving conditions through further study.