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Robots Role in Exploration
Introduction
Eric J. Maloney, Jeffrey D. McFarland, Chad W. Green, Gerald R. Bowman
Department of Computer Science
Wi th the rapid growth of technology i n the last half century,
NASA ha s been able to a dapt to using a utonomous robotic
vehi cles. By us ing va rious kinds of robots, rovers, and
rotorcra fts, we ca n explore s pace in ways that was never
pos sible before. This, a longside with many other benefits,
prove how va luable this ri se of technology has been for space
expl oration.
Dragonfly Rotorcraft
Double Asteroid Redirection Test
Martian Rovers
Robot SPARROW
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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SPARROW: Steam Propelled Autonomous Retrieval Robot
for Ocea n Worlds
Conceptual steam-powered robot (NASA)
Uti l izing large leaps for movement
Des igned for hazardous terrains that are too dangerous
for huma ns to explore
Speci fically i cy celestial bodies like Europa
Depends on lander s erving as a home base
La nder would mi ne the ice, melt it, and l oad the water
i nto Sparrow
SPARROW would use this water for i ts s team-powered
l eaping
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•
Mi s sion to search for signs of life on Titan, the moon of
Sa turn. Titan is the only other place i n our s olar system
wi th s table liquid on the s urface
Dra gonfly will i nitially l and near Titan’s equator
Nucl ear powered autonomous octocopter with an H
s ha ped Frame
Des igned for long flights i n Ti tans dense a tmosphere
where the surface temperature is a round -290 F or –175 C
Equi pped with mass & ga mma-ray s pectrometer to
exa mine organic compounds
Ingenuity Rotorcraft
•
Wa s a proposed mission to s tudy the composition of
NEO's that had the possibility of collision with Earth
before i t was ca ncelled i n 2017
It woul d find a large boulder and remove i t from the
s urface of the asteroid and redirect it to orbit the moon
to be s tudied
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Project for Dr. Mukherjee's Space Science Class
•
•
•
Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARRM)
•
(Starting top right, moving clockwise) Sojourner, Spirit/Opportunity,
Perseverance, Curiosity
Photos from NASA
Fi rs t rotorcraft used on another planet
Wi ngspan i s 4 ft., weight is 4 l bs.
Us es solar cells to charge
Equi ped with ca meras but no s cientific equipment
It wi l l attempt to use carbon fiber propellers gernerate
vertica l thrust i n the thin Ma rtian a tmosphere
Fi rs t test flight expected to take place as soon as Mission
Control ca n establish
Rovers are used to explore Ma rs.
Thei r bodies a re specifically designed to protect vi tal
el ectronics and withstand temps of -40 to 104 degrees
Fa hrenheit.
A rover's brains is the computer s tored inside the body.
They a re programmed do their own processes as well as
recei ve i nformation from the flight team to be executed.
The computer controls all on-board components
i ncl uding the a rms, wheels, ca meras/sensors, a nd
equipment used for data collection.
The rovers are powered by s olar a rrays or nuclear
power.
The rovers ' mission a re to find past signs of l ife/water
fl ow a nd finding suitable places for future
huma n landings on Ma rs. They do this by collecting rock
s a mples, taking pictures, and using other sensors to
col l ect data.
References
Society, T. P. (2021, February 26). Dragonfly, NASA’s Mission to
Saturn’s Moon Titan. The Planetary Society.
https://www.planetary.o rg/space- missions/dragonfly
“NASA's Mars Exploration Program.” NASA, NASA, 3 June 2014,
Mars.nasa.gov/.
“Sojourner Rover Near ‘The Dice.’” NASA, NASA,
www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/sojourn er-rov er-n ear-the-dic e
This Hopping Robot Could Explore the Solar System's Icy Moons.
(2020, June 24). JPL. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov /news/thishopping-robot-could-explore-the-solar-systems-icy-moons
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mi s sion meant to test a proposed solution to protect the
Ea rth from Near-Earth Objects (NEO)
Uti l izes the new NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster solar
el ectric propulsion system
Us es 3.5 kilowatts of power while weighing 500 ki lograms
Goi ng to be tested on NEO Didymos A, B; a binary a steroid
s ys tem a pproximately 1,200 ft. a nd 280 ft. i n ra dius
res pectively
DART wi ll deliberately collide with the smaller object with
a vel ocity of 6.6 km/s to alter i ts orbit away from earth by
0.4 mm/s
Expected to launch in late fall 2021 a nd has a n estimated
ti meline to i ntercept Didymos' Moonlet Dimorphos i n
September 2022
Before collision, the Li ght Italian CubeSat will s eparate a nd
ta ke a picture of the collision
The col lision will be vi ewed by ground-based telescopes
Conclusion
Whether i t's the DART protecting the Earth from potential
deva station, or SPARROW exploring icy moons in search of
l i fe, the technology that NASA has been developing has been
cri tical for space exploration. These robots, rovers, and
rotorcra fts will surely continue to improve a nd expand our
knowledge of space.
Asteroid redirect robotic mission. (n.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2021,
from https://www.jpl.nasa.gov /missions/asteroid-redirectrobotic-mission-arrm
Talbert, T. (2017, June 30). Double asteroid redirection test (dart)
mission. Retrieved March 25, 2021, from
https://www.nasa.gov /plan etarydef ense/dart
Potter, Sean. "NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Prepares for First
Flight." NASA, NASA, 23 Mar. 2021, www.nasa.gov/pressrelease/nasa-ingenuity-mars-helicopt er-prepares-for-firstflight
Introduction
Eric J. Maloney, Jeffrey D. McFarland, Chad W. Green, Gerald R. Bowman
Department of Computer Science
Wi th the rapid growth of technology i n the last half century,
NASA ha s been able to a dapt to using a utonomous robotic
vehi cles. By us ing va rious kinds of robots, rovers, and
rotorcra fts, we ca n explore s pace in ways that was never
pos sible before. This, a longside with many other benefits,
prove how va luable this ri se of technology has been for space
expl oration.
Dragonfly Rotorcraft
Double Asteroid Redirection Test
Martian Rovers
Robot SPARROW
•
•
•
•
•
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SPARROW: Steam Propelled Autonomous Retrieval Robot
for Ocea n Worlds
Conceptual steam-powered robot (NASA)
Uti l izing large leaps for movement
Des igned for hazardous terrains that are too dangerous
for huma ns to explore
Speci fically i cy celestial bodies like Europa
Depends on lander s erving as a home base
La nder would mi ne the ice, melt it, and l oad the water
i nto Sparrow
SPARROW would use this water for i ts s team-powered
l eaping
•
•
Mi s sion to search for signs of life on Titan, the moon of
Sa turn. Titan is the only other place i n our s olar system
wi th s table liquid on the s urface
Dra gonfly will i nitially l and near Titan’s equator
Nucl ear powered autonomous octocopter with an H
s ha ped Frame
Des igned for long flights i n Ti tans dense a tmosphere
where the surface temperature is a round -290 F or –175 C
Equi pped with mass & ga mma-ray s pectrometer to
exa mine organic compounds
Ingenuity Rotorcraft
•
Wa s a proposed mission to s tudy the composition of
NEO's that had the possibility of collision with Earth
before i t was ca ncelled i n 2017
It woul d find a large boulder and remove i t from the
s urface of the asteroid and redirect it to orbit the moon
to be s tudied
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Project for Dr. Mukherjee's Space Science Class
•
•
•
Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARRM)
•
(Starting top right, moving clockwise) Sojourner, Spirit/Opportunity,
Perseverance, Curiosity
Photos from NASA
Fi rs t rotorcraft used on another planet
Wi ngspan i s 4 ft., weight is 4 l bs.
Us es solar cells to charge
Equi ped with ca meras but no s cientific equipment
It wi l l attempt to use carbon fiber propellers gernerate
vertica l thrust i n the thin Ma rtian a tmosphere
Fi rs t test flight expected to take place as soon as Mission
Control ca n establish
Rovers are used to explore Ma rs.
Thei r bodies a re specifically designed to protect vi tal
el ectronics and withstand temps of -40 to 104 degrees
Fa hrenheit.
A rover's brains is the computer s tored inside the body.
They a re programmed do their own processes as well as
recei ve i nformation from the flight team to be executed.
The computer controls all on-board components
i ncl uding the a rms, wheels, ca meras/sensors, a nd
equipment used for data collection.
The rovers are powered by s olar a rrays or nuclear
power.
The rovers ' mission a re to find past signs of l ife/water
fl ow a nd finding suitable places for future
huma n landings on Ma rs. They do this by collecting rock
s a mples, taking pictures, and using other sensors to
col l ect data.
References
Society, T. P. (2021, February 26). Dragonfly, NASA’s Mission to
Saturn’s Moon Titan. The Planetary Society.
https://www.planetary.o rg/space- missions/dragonfly
“NASA's Mars Exploration Program.” NASA, NASA, 3 June 2014,
Mars.nasa.gov/.
“Sojourner Rover Near ‘The Dice.’” NASA, NASA,
www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/sojourn er-rov er-n ear-the-dic e
This Hopping Robot Could Explore the Solar System's Icy Moons.
(2020, June 24). JPL. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov /news/thishopping-robot-could-explore-the-solar-systems-icy-moons
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mi s sion meant to test a proposed solution to protect the
Ea rth from Near-Earth Objects (NEO)
Uti l izes the new NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster solar
el ectric propulsion system
Us es 3.5 kilowatts of power while weighing 500 ki lograms
Goi ng to be tested on NEO Didymos A, B; a binary a steroid
s ys tem a pproximately 1,200 ft. a nd 280 ft. i n ra dius
res pectively
DART wi ll deliberately collide with the smaller object with
a vel ocity of 6.6 km/s to alter i ts orbit away from earth by
0.4 mm/s
Expected to launch in late fall 2021 a nd has a n estimated
ti meline to i ntercept Didymos' Moonlet Dimorphos i n
September 2022
Before collision, the Li ght Italian CubeSat will s eparate a nd
ta ke a picture of the collision
The col lision will be vi ewed by ground-based telescopes
Conclusion
Whether i t's the DART protecting the Earth from potential
deva station, or SPARROW exploring icy moons in search of
l i fe, the technology that NASA has been developing has been
cri tical for space exploration. These robots, rovers, and
rotorcra fts will surely continue to improve a nd expand our
knowledge of space.
Asteroid redirect robotic mission. (n.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2021,
from https://www.jpl.nasa.gov /missions/asteroid-redirectrobotic-mission-arrm
Talbert, T. (2017, June 30). Double asteroid redirection test (dart)
mission. Retrieved March 25, 2021, from
https://www.nasa.gov /plan etarydef ense/dart
Potter, Sean. "NASA Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Prepares for First
Flight." NASA, NASA, 23 Mar. 2021, www.nasa.gov/pressrelease/nasa-ingenuity-mars-helicopt er-prepares-for-firstflight
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