Project CRATER
Vision
Rovers are very useful for reducing the risks and costs of future crewed missions to Mars. By leveraging the advantages of fully autonomous driving and sampling the Martian environment, such rovers will enable the space sector to identify and analyze potential landing sites and outposts, paving the way for humanity to reach the Red Planet.
Mission
The main goal of this project is to build a rover for the European Rover Challenge (ERC) and win the competition. One of the most important tasks is the autonomous navigation of the rover on the test field without any remote assistance. Furthermore, soil samples are required to categorize the Martian soil, investigate potential water resources, and identify other critical elements. Communication between the operator and the rover is essential for monitoring, troubleshooting, and remotely controlling the system in case of problems with the fully autonomous algorithm. Transporting the rover to the ERC field campaign presents a challenge, as it must be treated like a payload for an analog Mars mission. Similar to a potential landing on Mars, the constraints regarding volume and weight must be taken into account.
Our Progress
An important step towards the realization of our project is the planned participation in the European Rover Challenge (ERC) in the year 2025. The simulated martian terrain and challenges that this competition offer will act as a stepping stone for project CRATER to start it’s mission towards autonomy in planetary exploration.
The first step towards the ERC was the design and construction of a rover prototype. Dubbed the ExoWARR, this prototype bases it’s design upon ESA’s ExoMY: an open-source 3D printed rover. The ExoWARR serves as a simple prototype to aid in the development and testing of autonomous navigation algorithms.
We have also successfully created and tested the drive and sampling system of its first prototype at a test site near the Robotics and Mechatronics Centre in DLR (German Aerospace Centre) in October 2024 and we are currently developing the second iteration of MAREE (Martian Autonomous Rover for Experimentation and Exploration).
European Rover Challenge (ERC)
The European Rover Challenge is an international space & robotics event combining competition of Martian rovers with scientific and technological shows.