This Is Not Your Father's Moon Buggy (Forwarded)

Kelly Humphries
Johnson Space Center, Houston, Tx. September 6, 2005
281/483-5111

RELEASE: J05-034

This Is Not Your Father's Moon Buggy

When humans return to the Moon and venture beyond, they'll get around
using "smart" rovers that do much more than move cargo.

The single-use rovers of the past will be replaced by multi-use
planetary rovers that are full-fledged members of "EVA squads," humans
and robots working together. The rovers will be able to transport both
astronauts and equipment, follow verbal commands and hand signals, take
direction by wireless remote control, act as communication and video
relay stations and carry extra supplies. They'll even be able to do some
work autonomously or with other robots.

That's the focus of ongoing research by NASA's Science Crew Operations
and Utility Testbed (SCOUT) project. Although lunar rovers were used on
three Apollo missions, significantly expanding the exploration range of
the astronauts, more capable vehicles will be needed to support the
build-up, maintenance and exploration envisioned for prolonged lunar and
Martian surface missions.

The SCOUT rover will be taken for another test drive in September as
part of tests in the Arizona desert near Flagstaff.

Recently, at NASA's Johnson Space Center, spacesuited drivers,
astronauts, operations personnel and engineers put the two-person SCOUT
through its paces in a series of mid-year field tests. The results could
help pave the way for building and maintaining bases, establishing
resource depots and conducting scientific research, said Project Manager
Frank Delgado of JSC's Engineering Automation, Robotics and Simulation
Division.

"The rover performed exceptionally well during all modes of operation.
We were able to successfully carry out all our test objectives and
learned valuable information about each of the subsystems," Delgado
said. "This information will allow us to develop a more robust rover
with even greater capabilities."

Experts in automation and robotics, crew accommodations, power systems,
avionics, structures, navigation, software systems, communication
systems and operations developed SCOUT to test advanced technologies and
operations concepts. The rover configuration can transport two suited
astronauts, traverse 10-degree slopes equal to 30-degree slopes on Mars
gravity, drive at speeds up to 7 mph, go over one-foot-tall rocks, and
provide a six-mile driving range.

The recent tests at JSC evaluated SCOUT in all three of its drive modes:
onboard, teleoperation and autonomous. Onboard astronauts can use a
display and control system with joystick ergonomically designed for two
spacesuited astronauts riding in open cockpit seats. Astronauts also can
drive the rover from afar using a teleoperation system that provides
remote operators the same information they would have in the open
cockpit. Or, they could employ an onboard "autopilot" that allows SCOUT
to function with little or no human interaction, driving itself between
previously defined waypoints, avoiding obstacles and using a stereo
vision system to track and follow a nearby astronaut.

The upcoming tests in the high desert of Arizona will evaluate SCOUT's
autonomous and semi-autonomous capabilities, try out different cockpit
designs for space-suited operators and develop a way to recharge
spacesuit breathing air, batteries and cooling water on the move.

Future enhancements to the rover will be developed using new ideas for
intelligent software, crew accommodations, operations models, portable
power solutions, communication technologies and in-situ processing.

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Internet, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov