Development of Luna Rover, Payload, and Automatic Control System

Students: Max Edwards, Juan Jiminez, Logan Puntous, Andres Briseno

Faculty Mentor: Nansong Wu

Engineering

College of Science, Technology, and Business

This research is focused on the implementation of an electronic measurement subsystem for a lunar rover capable of extracting, transporting, and depositing regolith on the lunar surface. The subsystem is designed to enable weighing of the contents of the rover's storage area during operation, including operation on rough terrain where the rover may be positioned at an angle without easy access to a flat surface. Electronic components, including a gyroscope, accelerometer, and load cell, were assembled to construct a system that can measure the force exerted by an object and account for inclination about the pitch and roll axes to calculate the weight. By implementing such a system, a rover can record potentially useful data during construction and mining operations.