Physics
Scientific paper
Apr 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003eaeja.....5724b&link_type=abstract
EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly, Abstracts from the meeting held in Nice, France, 6 - 11 April 2003, abstract #5724
Physics
Scientific paper
With the emergence of ESA's BepiColombo cornerstone mission to the Planet Mercury, a new class of operational environment has become relevant for the design of planetary surface systems. In the past years, Mars was a primary focus for planetary landers, planetary mobility elements such as rovers or moles, and payload instruments. The typical environmental conditions were characterized by a temperature range between -120 and +20°C, low atmospheric pressure in the range of 7 hPa, and a dust/regolith environment. For a Mercury mission including a planetary landing, this situation can change dramatically, depending on the landing site and landing season. Local temperatures can be as low as -170°C in shadow or during night, and they can easily reach 200 to 250°C in sun light, even in temperate zones, e.g. at high latitudes of 85°. Such an environment is of course a particular challenge for both, the payload instruments and the accommodating microrobotic system. The strong limitation in size, mass, and power does not allow to apply classical, large sized passive thermal control mechanisms, or to implement active thermal control techniques with high power demand. The situation is even worse, if - as in the case of the BepiColombo Surface Element - the system is powered by primary batteries, resulting in a severe limitation of energy and on-surface life time. In the last years, the Nanokhod microrover has been developed to the state of an advanced laboratory model with the primary focus of an Mars mission application. For BepiColombo, Nanokhod became part of the lander's model payload. As a consequence, the related ESA technology development activity "Robotic Technology for Planetary Exploration" (RTPE) has been re-oriented towards a Mercury mission application. This paper presents the results of the RTPE activity in the context of an application of the Nanokhod microrover in an extreme environment. It describes the design approach, focusing on the thermal and operational boundary conditions of a BepiColombo-type mission. Furthermore, the results of the conceptual design work and the subsequent hardware development and testing program are set out.
Bertrand Reinhold
van Winnendael Michel
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