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ACTA AERONAUTICAET ASTRONAUTICA SINICA ›› 2021, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (1): 523897-523897.doi: 10.7527/S1000-6893.2020.23897

• Review • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Development of small-scale planet surface exploration robots: Status quo and trend

XIN Pengfei1,2, LI Delun1,2, LIU Xin1,2, ZHANG Pei1,2, CHEN Lei1,2, LIU Bin1,2   

  1. 1. Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering, Beijing 100094, China;
    2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Intelligent Space Robotic System Technology and Applications, Beijing 100094, China
  • Received:2020-02-26 Revised:2020-03-14 Published:2020-06-18

Abstract: In view of the requirements of small-scale mobile robots as scientific component loads for large-scale landing explorers in deep space exploration (particularly lunar, Mars and asteroid explorations), this paper summarizes the worldwide development status of small-scale planet surface exploration robots, focusing on the mission requirements, basic configuration and prototype testing of representative small-scale robots for the lunar, Mars and asteroid explorations. Based on the systematic summary of the developing trend of small-scale planet surface exploration robots, suggestions for the future development and improvement in this field in China are put forward. The analysis shows that: for the exploration of lunar rugged terrains which are of high research value, the small-scale wheeled and legged robots with strong motion performance have attracted wide attention, with countries such as Japan, Britain, Switzerland having proposed a series of design concepts, and many principle prototypes being tested; for the Mars and other planets with thin atmosphere, the rotorcraft as the component unit has become the focus of attention and development throughout the world. Meanwhile, the small-scale wheeled and roll-over robots for extreme terrain detection have also entered the stage of principle prototype testing, and the United States has maintained outstanding advantages in these fields; for the exploration of small mass and weak gravitational planets such as asteroids, the small-scale roll-over robots have become the mainstream of landing explorations. Japan’s small-scale robots in the Hayabusa 2 mission have been successfully applied in practical engineering.

Key words: deep space exploration, planet surface exploration, rugged terrains, intelligent robots, overstepping ability, rolling motion

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