MECHANICAL ARCHITECTURE FOR A MARS ROVER

摘要

ESA's ExoMars mission plans to land a rover on Mars with the primary objective of searching for signs of extinct or extant microbial life. EADS Astrium is the contractor for the rover vehicle - a mobile platform which supports the science instruments and sample acquisition and preparation equipment, including a drill. This paper describes the mechanical architecture of the rover vehicle: its overall configuration; the concept for stowage and deployment, the locomotion subsystem, structural design and the thermal control system. The vented airbag landing system planned for ExoMars results in a different topology to the MER rovers which employed non-vented airbags. Internal accommodation of the science payload and vehicle service subsystems within the confines of the thermally insulated body has led to a densely packaged arrangement, which nonetheless is modular to ease integration within an aseptic environment to meet planetary protection requirements. The rover locomotion consists of a capable 6 wheel system with a novel suspension concept which permits body posture control and self-deployment. The thermal control design includes both loop heat pipes and radioisotope heater units for maintaining critical systems within temperature limits whilst the exterior of the vehicle is subjected to a wide diurnal range.