Planetary Rover Mobility Performance on Soft and Uneven Terrain

Abstract

Rovers on Mars or Moon for planetary exploration are obtainig increased importance within the spaceflight nations. To achieve full mission success, driveability and mobility in all kind of complex motion scenarios has to be guaranteed. Here, proper modeling and understanding of the complex wheel-soil interaction, i.e. the terramechanics for flexible and hard wheels interacting with hard, soft and loose soil, is a major driver for supporting reliably rover design and to assist in testing of the flight model. The physical contact models are integrated within a multibody system approach, and the performance of the rover mobility will be shown for various worst case driving scenarios on hard and soft soil.