It’s a robotic machine on the moon.
It will be labeled the Endurance sample return mission and will collect debris from key locations on the moon for later retrieval by future NASA astronauts. artemis project. In addition, high-value collectibles snatched from those far-flung places will be shipped back Earth By the Astros.
NASA has begun drawing up blueprints for an Endurance rover to traverse the giant planet Antarctic-Aitken (SPA) Basina lunar wonderland filled with promising geological surprises. Endurance will be an unprecedented undertaking.
high priority
The prestigious National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine emphasizes building endurance in its report, “Origins, Worlds and Life – Planetary Science and Astrobiology Ten Year Strategy 2023-2032”.
It is billed as a strategic mid-level mission, given the highest priority within NASA’s Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program (LDEP).
Two variants of Endurance have been submitted for decadal review: Endurance-R (the R stands for “robot”) will deliver samples to a robotic Earth-return vehicle (ERV) that lands alone.
Endurance-A (A stands for “astronaut”) will deliver a sample cache to nearby Artemis astronauts. Lunar South Pole. The crew will analyze and classify the samples and bring a portion back to Earth for analysis in a ground-based laboratory.
During the long journey, more than a dozen key locations will be visited and studied using rover instruments and a collection of selected lunar specimens.
Challenge the limits
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is conducting technical studies to evaluate mobility options for the SPA sample return mission.
How challenging would such a mission really be from a robotics perspective, and how best to learn from past and current ongoing rover missions?
James Keane is a research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the scientific champion of the endurance mission concept.
“Endurance is a push to the limit,” Keane told Space.com.
Currently, NASA Perseverance rover Keane said this is the most advanced rover in operation. “Endurance will travel approximately 100 times farther than Perseverance, travel much faster, and collect approximately 200 times the mass of samples. Endurance will also be the first planetary rover to travel at night. This is a project we A mission that has never been attempted before,” he said.
discretionary investment
While these are giant leaps forward in robotics, these capabilities are actually enabled by Mars rovers and autonomous investments here on Earth.
“For example, Perseverity is already driving autonomously on Mars,” Keane said. “This autonomy allows Perseverance to complete more science and reach more interesting sample locations.
Keane said that considering the rover’s maximum speed for autonomous navigation, Endurance will travel about ten times faster than Perseverance. The machine would need to operate autonomously in a wider range of lighting conditions and temperature extremes, and travel throughout the lunar day-night cycle, he added.
Various samples
As a primary goal, the Endurance mission list is to collect geologically diverse samples from across the vast Antarctic-Aitken Basin.
“The main challenge here is the sheer size of the spa,” Keane said. It is the largest impact basin on the Moon, with a diameter of more than 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers). Key sample points are often hundreds of kilometers apart.
“Compare that to the craters we’ve roamed around on Mars,” Keane noted. SPA is 12 times larger than Gale Crater, where NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is located, and 44 times larger than Jezero Crater, where Perseverance rover is roaming.
Keane continued: “To travel such great distances in a reasonable amount of time—and on the far side of the moon, with limited surface data and no direct communication with Earth—really requires autonomous driving between sample points.”
Reasoning and decision-making
Once Endurance reaches sample sites, researchers expect to operate in a more traditional “ground loop” mode so that scientists on Earth can survey the sites and collect samples.
The Earth-based operations team will also be involved in strategically planning and adjusting Endurance’s route, which will operate at a much lower cadence per distance traveled. In addition, Earth Controller will monitor rover telemetry to track the robot’s performance and component degradation and adjust plans accordingly.
Still, Keane said, the rover will have a greater degree of autonomy in situation assessment, reasoning and decision-making. He said this required longer on-duty work in challenging lighting and thermal conditions compared to previous missions.
Endurance operators will also be involved in assessing and handling failures during the long journey across the vast Antarctic-Aitken (SPA) basin.
“The result of all this is unprecedented levels of planetary surface productivity,” Keane concluded.
priority scientific goals
Meanwhile, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is launching the Antarctic-Aitken Basin Sample Return and Exploration (SPARX) Science Definition Team (SDT) while identifying the technical and procedural challenges Endeavor will face.
The task of the SDT is to analyze the priority scientific objectives and requirements as well as the different implementation methods of the task dedicated to processing SPA return samples.
NASA headquarters told Space.com that “NASA will use SDT analysis to inform decisions on priority science objectives and the implementation of near-term SPA sample return and exploration missions” through human and/or robotic implementation pathways.
The SDT is expected to start in the first quarter of 2025 and last 12-18 months.
Wanted: “Moon Mula”
There is no doubt that traveling extensively around a spa is a daunting task. But finding “Moon Mula” to carry out the mission is equally important.
“The Endurance Rover concept requires a rover that has never been designed before for the harsh lunar environment,” said Clive Neal, a leading lunar exploration expert at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
Neil told Space.com that Endurance is considered a directed mission of the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program (LDEP).
The program also currently funds NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, the upcoming Lunar Trailblazer, the already operational Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), and the space agency’s currently beleaguered Artemis Lunar Rover “Volatile” Investigating Polar Expedition Rover, or poisonous snakeNeil suggested.
Budget and planning issues
“The complexity of the rover required to successfully complete the mission and the collection of SPA samples will require most, if not all, of the LDEP budget for the foreseeable future,” Neal said. “While the scientific returns are huge, so are the costs. It’s very high and will dwarf VIPER’s spending,” he said.
Neal’s bottom line: “I don’t think the way it’s implemented will ensure the success of LDEP. It needs its own mission budget wedge, or we can say goodbye to the CLPS program.”
Ironically, Neal noted, cost overruns on VIPER could jeopardize other CLPS missions, which was cited as the reason for the cancellation of that particular rover mission.
“I can see history repeating itself here,” Neal concluded.
For more information about the rover, See NASA document The title is “Endurance: Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Traverse and Sample Return Rover.”