Lunar Pole Exploration Rover & Plugins

Closes: issue #36

This package (and associated assets in the simulation repository space-ros/simulation#25) provides a Gazebo simulation of a lunar south pole exploration mission inspired by the real NASA VIPER mission.

It includes a realistic environment, the Mons Mouton, where the VIPER rover was planned to land, and a fully controllable rover model.

The key elements of the simulation is the integration of specifically developped Gazebo plugins. A solar panel plugin and associated battery and power consumption plugins aim to simulate the power generation challenge of the lunar south pole.

This package and associated plugins and models were developped by Robin Baran and Stevedan Ogochukwu Omodolor Omodia for the NASA Space ROS Sim Summer Sprint Challenge.

Challenge Name: NASA Space ROS Sim Summer Sprint Challenge
Team lead Freelancer name: @RBinson
Submission title: Lunar Pole Exploration Rover & Plugins

Detailed information on how to build, to run, the APIs and so on is available in the README

Contribution details

Our contribution is as follows:

• A lunar south pole exploration Gazebo simulation modelled on NASA VIPER mission including:
  • A fully simulated rover model
  • A world and ground model to simulate the Mons Mouton (also called Liebnitz Beta) area.
• A set of Gazebo plugins to simulate power generation and consumption in space Robotics, used in the lunar pole exploration Gazebo simulation. These plugins are as follows:
  • A solar panel plugin to simulate power generation from the sun according to occlusion and angle between the sun and the panel
  • A radioisotope thermal generator plugin to simulate the constant power from a radioisotope thermal generator
  • A modified version of the linear battery plugin that is able to take as charge input the power outputs of the two previous plugins.
  • A sensor power load system plugin to simulate the power drawn by sensors

Why It Matters

Our motivation and rational for this contribution is firstly based on the renewed global interest for the moon. The polar regions in particular are of high interest due to the high chance of water ice being present in permanently shaded craters. Said water could be used to establish a long lasting human presence on the moon (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/08/space-water-ice-moon-south-pole/).

Unique challenges have to be addressed in this environment and would be interesting to simulate in Space-ROS. In particular the power generation and management:

• Solar power being constantly available outside of shaded area
• Solar power being unavailable while testing the presence of water ice in a shaded area
• Solar panel placement to adapt to the sun low position on the horizon

In addition, power generation and management strategies are a cornerstone of any space mission, and in particular space robotic missons. Many space missions have been saved or got extended beyond their initially planned lifetimes through the careful management of power loads. Deactivating science equipment, sensors and even actuators to reduce consumption. For example, the Opportunity and Spirit rovers extended their mission life well beyond the planned 90 days by deactivating non-essential equipment and reducing communication during dust storms (https://web.archive.org/web/20140902071407/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/mer-20070824.html). Being able to simulate those behaviors and strategies seems of great added value to Space-ROS.

Detailed information on how to build, to run, the APIs and so on is available in the README