'RAPID' GMV Lunar Rover Tested at Unprecedented Speeds

A GMV lunar rover 'RAPID' has been undergoing testing at the Dehesa de Navalvillar for future lunar missions.

RAPID is working to explore lunar terrain at never-before-reached speeds to aid future astronauts who will inhabit the surface of our natural satellite. Rocks with specific mineral types, unique topographies, traces of moisture, and ancient streambeds are the research objectives for the lunar rover, which will train it for future planetary exploration missions.

RAPID (Robust and Semi-Autonomous Platform for Increased Distances) is a space robotics project run by ESA. Dry runs are being carried out in open fields in the town of Colmenar Viejo, Madrid.

As part of the RAPID project led by GMV for ESA, the Spanish company is currently designing and developing a cutting-edge robotic platform, an autonomous rover capable of safely traversing lunar areas at an average speed of 1.1 m/s, a speed never before achieved on the surface of a distant planet by an autonomous robot. RAPID uses a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) system based on visual navigation, i.e. on images generated/acquired by cameras installed on the rover.

The Moon has been and continues to be the next step in human exploration. Water, along with other volatile and lunar materials such as regolith, metals, and rare earth elements (REE), present potential resources that can sustain human and robotic exploration sustainably on the Moon, the Solar System, and beyond. The lunar poles, in particular, are of great interest for exploration but present harsh environmental conditions with very low temperatures (below 30K/-243 degrees Celsius) and challenging lighting conditions.

RAPID Mobile Platform Designed for Lunar Terrain

In the project’s initial phase, the mission's terrain characteristics were defined, including planned traverse distances, types of obstacles, and the functional requirements of the components, as well as their operational and testing requirements. Subsequently, GMV designed the RAPID mobile platform to meet the proposed requirements, particularly in terms of speed. This required improvements in all the subsystems involved: suspension, wheel characteristics, motors, power systems, as well as conducting several simulations of the rover's interaction with the ground to ensure it maintains contact, avoids slippage, and prevents tipping over during traverses.

Additionally, GMV has developed a semi-autonomous guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) subsystem with the main objective of achieving continuous driving, going beyond the current “stop-and-go” approach and avoiding stops during traverses. The main goal of this task has been to ensure that the GNC can drive the rover at the required speed, enabling much faster control cycles than traditional rovers. The project includes a control center to command the rover using different levels of autonomy, ranging from teleoperation to sending autonomous commands (e.g., autonomously going to a specific point).

Currently, GMV is conducting integration, preliminary, and field tests with the demonstrator in open fields, collecting performance parameters and test results. Rocks with specific mineral types, unique topographies, traces of moisture, and ancient streambeds are the research objectives for these tests, which will train it for future planetary exploration missions.

(Source: GMV news release. Images provided and from file)