Adaptation Study of Zebro as Nano Rover for Lunar Exploration and Demonstration of Locomotion on Simulated Lunar Surface

Abstract

The Moon is earth’s only natural satellite, it has no atmosphere, no life. The days are nearly burning,
the nights are freezing. It is old and cratered, smooth and young. Yet, curiosity and desire to explore
the uncertainty has driven man to find scientific truth. Here comes a small “Nano rover” from TU
Delft!
TU Delft, Netherlands and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India are working towards an
opportunity to land a space robot called “Nano Rover” on the Moon in collaboration with Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO), Bangalore, India. The prime objective of the mission is that the rover
should navigate on the Moon surface. The secondary objective is to capture photos intermittently
and send the data to the earth. Considering the mass and time constraints, the existing terrestrial
Zebro robot was proposed to be chosen for this purpose. However, Zebro is designed for terrestrial
applications and it has to be adapted to the extreme environment conditions on the lunar surface and
earth-moon transit orbit where the temperature can go as low as −180◦ C. Thus, it is quite challenging
to modify the existing Zebro to suite the requirements for extra-terrestrial applications. Hence, a
detailed study of lunar environment is necessary along with the extensive study on the adaptability of
Zebro to be lunar compliant. This thesis presents (i) a literature study on the environment conditions
on the Moon and during earth-moon transit orbit (ii) analysis of the existing Zebro and lists the
requirements to adapt it to be lunar compliant (iii) conduct tests on materials, components and
elements to enable usage of them for lunar and transit orbit environment (iv) design, develop and
test the On Board Computer for lunar compatible Zebro and (v) demonstrate the locomotion of the
robot on a simulated lunar terrain.
There are three major challenges in conceptualizing and realizing the Nano Rover - (i) stringent mission
management (ii) adapting it to the hostile environment such as temperature, vacuum, radiation,
vibration, shock (iii) strict product assurance needs. This thesis has comprehensively addressed these
challenges and successfully adapted the existing terrestrial Zebro as Nano Rover. Highly reliable
electronic components were chosen, tested, and used them in designing the locomotion system. A
lunar complaint On Board Computer and a motor drive system were successfully realized meeting
all the lunar mission needs. The prototype was tested successfully under extreme simulated lunar
environment conditions and locomotion on a simulated lunar terrain was successfully demonstrated.