Print Email Facebook Twitter Adaptation Study of Zebro as Nano Rover for Lunar Exploration and Demonstration of Locomotion on Simulated Lunar Surface Title Adaptation Study of Zebro as Nano Rover for Lunar Exploration and Demonstration of Locomotion on Simulated Lunar Surface Author Sharma, Kiran (TU Delft Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science; TU Delft Microelectronics) Contributor Verhoeven, C.J.M. (mentor) Degree granting institution Delft University of Technology Programme Electrical Engineering | Signals and Systems Date 2018-01-18 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 explorethe uncertainty has driven man to find scientific truth. Here comes a small “Nano rover” from TUDelft!TU Delft, Netherlands and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India are working towards anopportunity to land a space robot called “Nano Rover” on the Moon in collaboration with Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO), Bangalore, India. The prime objective of the mission is that the rovershould navigate on the Moon surface. The secondary objective is to capture photos intermittentlyand send the data to the earth. Considering the mass and time constraints, the existing terrestrialZebro robot was proposed to be chosen for this purpose. However, Zebro is designed for terrestrialapplications and it has to be adapted to the extreme environment conditions on the lunar surface andearth-moon transit orbit where the temperature can go as low as −180◦ C. Thus, it is quite challengingto modify the existing Zebro to suite the requirements for extra-terrestrial applications. Hence, adetailed study of lunar environment is necessary along with the extensive study on the adaptability ofZebro to be lunar compliant. This thesis presents (i) a literature study on the environment conditionson the Moon and during earth-moon transit orbit (ii) analysis of the existing Zebro and lists therequirements to adapt it to be lunar compliant (iii) conduct tests on materials, components andelements to enable usage of them for lunar and transit orbit environment (iv) design, develop andtest the On Board Computer for lunar compatible Zebro and (v) demonstrate the locomotion of therobot on a simulated lunar terrain.There are three major challenges in conceptualizing and realizing the Nano Rover - (i) stringent missionmanagement (ii) adapting it to the hostile environment such as temperature, vacuum, radiation,vibration, shock (iii) strict product assurance needs. This thesis has comprehensively addressed thesechallenges and successfully adapted the existing terrestrial Zebro as Nano Rover. Highly reliableelectronic components were chosen, tested, and used them in designing the locomotion system. Alunar complaint On Board Computer and a motor drive system were successfully realized meetingall the lunar mission needs. The prototype was tested successfully under extreme simulated lunarenvironment conditions and locomotion on a simulated lunar terrain was successfully demonstrated. To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:46e4b4c9-c2c0-47cb-8ef5-c206844a7f83 Embargo date 2020-01-31 Part of collection Student theses Document type master thesis Rights © 2018 Kiran Sharma Files PDF FinalThesis.pdf 3.75 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:46e4b4c9-c2c0-47cb-8ef5-c206844a7f83/datastream/OBJ/view