University Rover Challenge:
Making a Simulation Mars Rover
Can you find earth in this picture?
Outline
• MDRS & BYU
• Discussion of event at past & future
competitions
• Past BYU Rovers for URC
• The astrobiology task.
– Endoliths.
• Optional
– History of Rovers on Mars
– How might Rovers of the kind we are making
be used by future explorers
http://mars.byu.edu/html/aboutus.htm
MDRS: Mars Desert Research Station
Doug Archer
BS BYU Physics 04
PHD. U of AZ 09,
Designed ovens for
Phoenix Mission.
Currently working
at the NASA
Johnson Space
Center in Houston,
TX on the Mars
Science Laboratory,
the next robotic
mission to Mars.
http://www.udel.edu/research/polar/images/Artist%27sMarsLander.jpg
Mars Science Lab is bigger than
other Rovers
http://www.astrobio.net/images/galleryimag
es_images/Gallery_Image_6331.jpg
Niki Farnsworth Brimhall
BS BYU Physics 04
PHD. BYU 09,
Physics
Postdoc: U of Utah,
Biomaterials
Miriam Stephens West
& Stephen West
Hal near the MDRS
http://marsrover.byu.edu
About the competition.
• “The University Rover Challenge (URC)
is an annual international competition
hosted by the Mars Society for University
and College students to complete a given
scenario using a rover the team has built.”
• It was announced Fall of 2006.
The writing on this slide and Much of the writing on the subsequent slides are
from Wikipedia and BYU’s website. I mostly won’t use quotation marks.
Travis Brown: Prime Mover 1st- 3rd
BYU entries.
Ahh the life of an
engineer.
July 9, 2007
BYU ME 2009
Notre Dame
robotics
So was Neil
Hinckley
So was Nyssa Roderick Brown
As was Ellie
A little more history of the BYU Rover.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYU_Mars_Rover
Some unique things about the
project.
• It is not a capstone or run by
knowledgeable engineering professor.
• Professor Allred is more customer than
manager.
• Students have done their own
management and organization.
• We are very grateful for the nonengineers/
nonscientist on the project. Leadership,
organization & financials.
The BYU Mars Rover Team in 2009.
Last year
2010 featured the largest pool of
registered teams yet.
• The tasks were once again similar, but some now with
added complexity:
• Emergency Navigation to find a distressed astronaut
and deliver a package
• Equipment Servicing to read a list of step-by-step
commands directing the rover to push buttons, flip
switches and plug an electrical plugs into outlets in a
predefined order.
• Sample Return to search for a location in the area
that exhibits signs of extremophiles, return the sample so
that it can be analyzed at the base station.
• Remote Surveying to find the location of posts placed in
the desert using the rover.
We have 4 crosslisted classes
ECEn 493R
Borgholthaus Michael A
Broadbent Lane David
Carlson Stephen Joseph
Coles Shane Gregory
Gleave Nicholas Sean
Gutierrez Jaime Moises
Kwarteng Barima Kwame Ababio
Norgrant Andrew Kenneth
HONORS 293 R (7)
Jones Gene Robert
Smith Justin
Didn’t have time to get all of the pix.
ME 495R
Ellis Jeremy Conrad
Gillespie Morgan
Hendricks Lorin James
Jafek Alexander Robert
Kuhn Joshua Brian
Lee Victoria Dawn
Llewellyn Brandon Scott
Marshall Daniel Boysen
Porter Joshua Evan
Schramm Trent Jonathan
BYU’s effort 2010-11
Design Teams on the Rover
• Power Team headed up by Daniel Hearn
• Com/Radio Team headed up by Mike Borg
• Controls Team headed up by Daniel Woo
• Chassis Team headed up by Mark Davis
• Video Team headed up by Andrew
Norgrant
There is a need for more.
We need help on the
astrobiology task.
Sample Return Task:
Teams will be given a field briefing by judges to discuss
the task site. Teams controlling their rovers shall then
select multiple (3-6) sites of potential biological interest
within a 0.8 km radius of the start gate. Based upon
investigation of the selected sites, teams shall then
collect and return a single sample from the site they
determine to have the greatest likelihood of
containing photosynthetic bacteria such as
cyanobacteria/blue-green algae, other bacterial colonies
such as are associated with desert varnish, as well as
other nonbacterial extremophiles such as lichen.
John
Barainca
found
endoliths in
this area.
We have:
• Robust arm and sensor development
• A chemical engineer (we thinking of GC
when we get sample back to tent.)
We need geologist and someone who wants
to be an astrobiologist.
• We are wondering about utilizing BYU
expertise in hyperspectral analysis to look
for likely rocks. (Cameras and
narrowband filters.)
Bibliography
• http://marsrover.byu.edu/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYU_Mars_Rover
• http://mars.byu.edu/html/aboutus.htm
The coating on the window on Sojourner’s alpha ray spectrometer –this
is a element detector- was made by Yuan Fang at Moxtek. He received
his PhD at BYU developing this.
Spirit and Opportunity
Simulated image of Spirit.
Mars Statistics
• Mass (kg) 6.421e+23 Mass (Earth = 1) 1.0745e-01
• Equatorial radius (km) 3,397.2 Equatorial radius (Earth = 1)
5.3264e-01
• Mean density (gm/cm^3) 3.94
• Mean distance from the Sun (km) 227,940,000
• Mean distance from the Sun (Earth = 1)1.5237
• Rotational period (hours) 24.6229
• Rotational period (days) 1.025957
• Orbital period (days) 686.98
• Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) 24.13
• Orbital eccentricity0.0934
• Tilt of axis (degrees) 25.19 Orbital inclination (degrees) 1.850
• Equatorial surface gravity (m/sec^2) 3.72
• Equatorial escape velocity (km/sec) 5.02
• Visual geometric albedo0.15
• Magnitude (Vo)-2.01
Minimum surface temperature-140°C
Mean surface temperature-63°C
Maximum surface temperature 20°C
Atmospheric pressure (bars) 0.007
Atmospheric composition
Carbon Dioxide (C02)
Nitrogen (N2)
95.3200%
2.7000%
Argon (Ar)
Oxygen (O2)
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
1.6000%
0.1300%
0.0700%
Water (H2O)
0.0300%
Kathleen Moncrieff
Rover Loft. B-38 BYU
John
Barainca
found
endoliths in
this area.