Achieving human space flight is still a tremendous technical challenge that depends on the efforts of a very large team of engineers and scientists. Since the first human space flight in 1961 about 500 people have had flown in space, 12 men have walked on the Moon and only three countries have achieved human space flight: Russia, the USA and China. We are still at the embryonic stages of human space flight.
In August of 1997 the author flew on a 12 day mission on the US Space Shuttle Discovery travelling at 7800m/s at an altitude of 300km, circling the Earth 189 times. This flight has been one of the highlights of the author’s career. This talk will share the experience of flight in space, the experience of extended free fall, and of being able to view the Earth from space.
At the other end of aerospace spectrum, on the Feb 22 2009 the author piloted a replica of the Silver Dart airplane, the first aircraft to achieve powered flight in Canada, to mark the 100th anniversary of power flight in Canada, flying at a speed of less than 20m/s at an altitude of a few meters. The Silver Dart was quite similar to the Wright Flyer that achieved the first powered flight in 1903. The talk will include excerpts from this experience to contrast the old with the new.
ABSTRACT
Rovers have demonstrated great feasibility and capability in exploring planets such as the Moon and Mars to understand the formation of planets and the origin of life. As evidenced from past Mars exploration missions, some of the most scientifically interesting sites tend to be in areas that are difficult and also dangerous to reach, such as in craters, steep hills, or in heavily rock-strewn areas, such as riverbeds or valleys. Similarly, the science rich areas on the Moon are expected to be the South Pole, where there is a possibility of finding ice, as evidenced by NASA LCROSS mission, and the central peaks and crater rims of major craters such as Copernicus, where mantle material may be exposed from the impact, giving insight to the origin of the Moon and the formation of the planets. However, many of these science rich areas are in craters or on steep hills, and are difficult and dangerous for astronauts and even rovers to reach.
Microrovers, having low mass, low power consumption, low cost, and using technologies inherited from years of micro spacecraft development, can be used to help reduce the operation risks of lunar human or robotic exploration missions as well as to obtain highly desired science data.
The Canadian Space Agency has started the development of microrovers that can be used, as a stand-alone system or in combination with a large rover or lander, to perform tasks to help human exploration of the Moon, and lunar sample return and science exploration, especially the tasks of exploring areas of rough terrains and steep slopes. The microrovers would be used in three mission scenarios: “Scouting”, Sample Return and Science Exploration. The microrovers have three operation modes: teleoperation mode; supervised autonomous mode; tether-aided descending and climbing mode. They have a mass of less than 30 kg, solar power generation, on-board navigation system, sample acquisition mechanism, and on-board scientific instruments.
This presentation discusses the overall system requirements, description of the microrover design, and operations concept, and the status of development. It also explores the science applications of the microrover platform.
