HR: 0800h
AN: P51C-0932    [Abstracts]
TI: Enhancing Lunar Exploration with a Radioisotope Powered Dual Mode Lunar Rover
AU: * Elliott, J O
EM: jelliott@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Coste, K
EM: Keith.Coste@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Schriener, T M
EM: schrient@engr.orst.edu
AF: Oregon State University, 247 West Complex, Corvallis, OR 97331 United States
AB: The emerging plans for lunar exploration and establishment of a permanent human presence on the moon will require development of numerous infrastructure elements to facilitate their implementation. One such element, which manifestly demonstrated its worth in the Apollo missions, is the lunar roving vehicle. While the original Apollo lunar rovers were designed for single mission use, the intention of proceeding with a long-term sustained lunar exploration campaign gives new impetus to consideration of a lunar roving vehicle with extended capabilities, including the ability to support multiple sequential human missions as well as teleoperated exploration activities between human visits. This paper presents a preliminary design concept for such a vehicle, powered by radioisotope power systems which would give the rover greatly extended capabilities and the versatility to operate at any latitude over the entire lunar day/night cycle. The rover would be used for human transportation during astronaut sorties, and be reconfigured for teleoperation by earth-based controllers during the times between crewed landings. In teleoperated mode the rover could be equipped with a range of scientific instrument suites for exploration and detailed assessment of the lunar environment on a regional scale. With modular payload attachments, the rover could be modified between missions to carry out a variety of scientific and utilitarian tasks, including regolith reconfiguration in support of establishment of a permanent human base.
DE: 5494 Instruments and techniques
DE: 6250 Moon (1221)
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005