Inside NASA’s clean room Jet Propulsion Laboratory In Pasadena, California, the three lunar rovers are undergoing final checks before being attached to their flight hardware ahead of their planned launch later this year. Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robot Exploration RoverCADRE, or CADRE for short, is a technology test of what NASA calls a multi-agent autonomous rover. Once on the lunar surface, the three will work together to complete tasks autonomously. Each device is equipped with two stereo cameras, navigation sensors, and ground-penetrating radar to create a detailed 3D map of the lunar surface.
Rather than micromanaging the mission, controllers on Earth would give the rover simple, high-level commands to achieve an overall goal, such as asking it to explore and survey a particular area. How the rover completes its tasks, manages obstacles, maintains communications, and returns the necessary data would be handled largely autonomously, with all three working together. “Fundamentally, this will change the way we explore the moon and planets,” he says. Suva CommanderCADRE project manager. The rover will be launched aboard the Intuitive Machines 3 lander into the Reiner Gamma region of the moon, where it will spend one lunar day (equivalent to roughly 14 Earth-based days of the mission) conducting experiments.
CADRE will help develop the technology needed for more ambitious autonomous rovers in the future, enabling robust exploration of extreme environments like lava and ice caves, the surface of Mars, and even ocean worlds. “If we can demonstrate that this works well on the Moon, we could potentially send the same technology anywhere,” Commander says. The technology could also interact with human astronauts to send samples back, or be used by other vehicles such as drones, she adds. “Autonomy can really help with further exploration of the solar system,” Commander says. Jean-Pierre de La CroixPrincipal Investigator at CADRE.
topic:
