NASA has a new directive to return humans to the moon by 2024, generating a compelling need for a more comprehensive understanding of the lunar environment.
Answering the agency’s call to develop a small-formfactor mobile platform to perform lunar soil analysis and characterization, as well as imaging for concurrent lunar operations, a team that included undergraduate students from the department, developed and successfully demonstrated an articulated suspension robot called LOUIE (Lunar Observation, Utility and Imaging Explorer).
Mechatronics students Shane Blozis and Daniyal Ansari were the primary hardware and software engineers on the project conducted by Texas Space Technology Applications and Research (T STAR) and ATG Mobile Electric Systems.
Lee Graham, senior project engineer within the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, said the agency found their rover to be “fully acceptable” following the team’s final demonstration.
LOUIE’s capabilities and adaptability have piqued NASA interests in meeting the lunar mission requirements, including regolith sample imaging. In addition, LOUIE will perform lunar trenching to support lunar roadbed preparation.
The rover’s multifaceted mission while on the moon will include instrument deployment, roadbed preparation, video recording of the launch of the return vehicle and the distribution of radio-frequency identification sensors that will help NASA scientists collect information about lunar water ice and establish a geo-location infrastructure.