Designing Rovers for the Moon’s Extreme Environment

Shown is a colour photograph of the Canadensys lunar rover in its testing environment. It is turned at about 45 degrees.

The body of the micro rover resembles a turtle with its domed octagonal shape. The body of the rover is mostly white with grey hexagonal shaped solar panels attached on a slant to its sides. A small antenna can be seen from the top rear portion of the rover. A small camera is mounted to a rod and positioned at the top centre of the rover. Small wheels are attached to the bottom of the rover, the open metal design resembles cheese graters. Other smaller instruments are mounted to the front of the rover.

The lunar rover has left wheel tracks in the grey simulated moon soil. There are two rocks in the upper right corner of the image. In the background, darkness spreads beyond the rover.

Shown is a colour illustration of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a NASA robotic spacecraft.

The LRO can be seen in the foreground, orbiting above the surface of a large Moon. A smaller Earth can be seen, some distance away, and seems to half disappear into the darkness of space. 

The LRO resembles a metallic rectangular prism with a Miniature Radio Frequency radar dish mounted high on a metal post. Its large solar panel is positioned at a slant, on the opposite side of the orbiter.

Shown is a colour photograph of a JPL scientist holding a translucent cube of aerogel on a glass plate, with arms bent at the elbows. They are inside a darkened laboratory. 

Peter Tsou has brown skin, black hair and is wearing a blue lab coat. Below the arms, the image is completely black. 

Laboratory equipment can be seen in the background, such as flasks, tubing, and pipes wrapped in foil.

Shown is a colour illustration of a shielded cable placed horizontally.

A black plastic jacket covers the outermost layer of this cable. Below that is a braided, spiralling wire shield. Underneath that layer is a white insulating material, with different coloured exposed wires extending out on the far right.

Shown is a zoomed in black and white image of the Moon's surface.

The lunar surface looks grainy, greyish, and sprinkled with tiny dimpled holes. There is a stick-like marker, held up by a thin wire tripod, seen in the centre left of this image. A few small rocks scatter over the surface. A small dark shadow of irregular shape appears at the bottom right corner.

Shown are two rovers parked side-by-side on a gravel surface. 

The rovers have similar wheel designs, metal plates mounted flat around the circumference of each wheel. The rover in the foreground has an open design with metal bars mounted on the vehicle. The other rover's instruments are enclosed inside a metal cover, with a few instruments mounted on the outside. 

An additional metal frame can be seen in the background.

Shown is a colour video recording of DuAxel, a flexible rover that has both ability to travel long distances and rappel down hard-to-reach areas of scientific interest. Composed of two axel robots, DuAxel is designed to explore crater walls, pits, scarps, vents and other extreme terrain on the moon, Mars and beyond.

DuAxel can be seen in a field test, driving across the red, sandy soil in the Mojave Desert in California. DuAxel anchors and deplores axel (two-wheeled rear section of the vehicle). Axel explores steep terrain on two wheels while being tethered to DuAxel.

Shown is a black and white photograph of a person dressed in a space suit, extending a rod-like tool into the ground on the Moon.

In the foreground are some large jagged rocks, and a stick-like marker, held up by a thin wire tripod appears on the lower right.

The person is wearing a white suit, helmet and gloves with a large, white backpack. Their dark shadow on the ground bends sharply to the right. More jagged rocks are spread out in an irregular pattern on the ground. The horizon is grey and appears smooth.

Shown is a colour video recording of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) during one of the last of the Apollo missions between 1971-1972. The LRV also known as the moon buggy, is a battery-powered four-wheeled rover. 

The vehicle has an open air design, one astronaut in a white space suit is driving the vehicle over the bumpy, grey terrain of the lunar soil. As the wheels move over each bump, a plume of dust is kicked up into the air. 
Beyond the horizon, the sky is a dark black.

Shown is a colour photograph of the Canadensys lunar rover in its indoor testing environment.

The rover is in an environment which simulates the darkness of a lunar night. The white, dome-shaped rover has yellow headlights shining to an area just in front of it. Its jagged metal wheels have created many tracks through the grey, sandy soil. The micro rover is angled 45 degrees to the left. Deep tracks cover a low grey hill behind the rover, and beyond that, darkness.