Survey and Development of Navigation and Control Technology for Lunar Mars Exploration Rovers

摘要

Lunar and deep space exploration are the focus of attention for many countries in the recent years. Rovers are important and helpful tools for "contact" exploration in more expanding range after landing on the planet and its satellites. In China, the lunar exploration program has been startup and the first circumlunar exploration satellite will be launched in this year. As the same time, a project of "Scheme Research and Prototype Development of Lunar Rovers" has been startup since the end of 2004 by China Academy of Space Technology along with other scientific institutions. In the last year, the indoor and the first desert field experiment in China for the prototype were accomplished. This paper starts with the survey of navigation and control technologies applied successfully in the rovers and their prototypes in the world, combining with our experience and lessons from the scheme research and development of lunar rover prototype, and finally finds out the keys and difficulties about Lunar rovers' navigation and control technologies, and instructive suggestion to the development of the near future lunar and Mars rovers.