This space art, titled The Next Stop was selected by the ESA when discussing its Aurora programme.[1]

Crewed Mars rovers (also called manned Mars rovers[2]) are Mars rovers for transporting people on the planet Mars, and have been conceptualized as part of human missions to that planet.[3][4]

Two types of crewed Mars rovers are unpressurized for a crew in Mars space suits, and pressurized for the crew to work without a space suit. Pressurized rovers have been envisioned for short trips from a Mars base, or may be equipped as a mobile base or laboratory.[4]

Crewed Mars rovers are a component of many designs for a human mission to the planet Mars. For example, the Austere Human Missions to Mars proposal included two rovers on its uncrewed power and logistics cargo lander. Each rover could hold a crew of two in a pressurized environment, with power coming from a Stirling radioisotope generator.[3]

Examples

Mars rover with person in a Mars suit (NASA, 1995)
Pressurized rovers for a human expedition to planet Mars
DRMA 5.0 "commuter" Mars base, featuring a pressurized rover for two, with a 5 kilowatt Stirling radioisotope generator for power.[3]

In the 1960s, the post-Mariner 4 design for a Mars Excursion Module, by Marshall Space Flight Center, including a cargo version carrying a pressurized Mobile Laboratory for Mars, called MOLAB.[5] One of the ideas for Molab was for it to touch down on its wheels, what was called a "rover first" concept.[4] MOLAB had a pressurized cylinder for crews to operate in a shirt-sleeve environment even on an extraterrestrial surface.[4]

Mars One, a Mars colonization plan intended to be funded by a TV show, planned an unpressurized crewed rover capable of traveling 80 km (50 miles).[6] Astrobotic Technology was announced as a possible supplier.

The Manned Mars Exploration Rover (MMER) won a design award in 2010. Some features included live-aboard capability, a winch, airlock, and six foam core wheels. It featured modular construction so it could be assembled from smaller parts, and the suggested power source was radioisotope batteries.[7] An example of RTG use is the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, with a radioisotope power system that produced several hundred watts of electrical power. It produces this amount of power continuously with a slow decline over decades, with some of the heat given off by radioactive decay going to the production of electricity and a larger amount radiated as waste.[8]

In 2017, the Park Brother's Concepts debuted their Mars Rover design, which featured a six-wheel design, enclosed cab, and a mobile laboratory concept.[9] The rover concept is a Non-NASA design, but did debut at the Kennedy Space Center's Summer of Mars and is back dropped by agencies goal of getting humans to Mars by the early 2030s.[9] Car and Driver magazine reported on this event, dubbing the rover a 'Mars Car' and noting the designers and various specifications of the vehicle, such as its size.[2]

An example of an in-house NASA design for rover is the wheeled version of the Space Exploration Vehicle, which has a version for outer space.[9][10] An early version of the SEV rover was tested in 2008 by NASA in the desert.[10] The SEV for space or roving missions was designed to support two humans for 14-days, and would include a toilet, sleeping logistics, and one version has suitports to support EVAs.[10][11] Another concept is a windows that allow looking at objects very close to the front of the rover but on surface (down and to the front).[10]

Navigation

For options for keeping track of location as the rover moves around Mars include:[12]

Navigation on Mars is noted as important issue for human missions to the planet. Celestial navigation, used for over 500 years on Earth, may provide a way of locating on the Mars surface to within about 100 meters (109 yards).[12] Navigation is especially relevant to rovers, because they need to know at least roughly where they are and where they are going to get to a destination. Dead reckoning was the method used by the Mars Pathfinder rover Sojourner for navigation.[13]

A GPS satellite network for Mars would mean a constellation of satellites in Mars orbit,[14] but one alternative would be a surface based pseudo-satellites array.[13] These devices would have to be emplaced with high precision, unless they were self-calibrating.[13]

Rover design

Mars rover wheels from Sojourner, the twin MERs, and Curiosity
Rover wheels 3/4 view
Curiosity's 'wheelprint' on Mars
Curiosity's wheel on Mars
Curiosity's wheel damaged by the Martian environment.

An example of criteria for a crewed Mars surface rover was expressed by NASA in the surface variant of the aforementioned SEV, in development during the 2010s.[15] The 1980s era "Case for Mars" design suggest a medium-range rover with two compartments, one which could be depressurized and opened up to the Mars atmosphere, and a driving compartments which could remain pressurized during this time.[16] The same study also suggested a bigger, long-duration rover with tracks and robotic arms, in addition to other types in that crewed Mars mission concept.[17] Airlock design, especially for EVA, is an area of study for pressurized rovers.[15]

Design ideas for crewed and/or pressurized rovers:[15]

Additional possible technologies:

A 2004 analysis of a crewed Mars surface mission suggested the following types of rovers:[18]

In crewed Mars missions, rovers are sometimes grouped under the term "Mars surface elements".[18]

Unpressurized rover

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2021)
Buggy-style Mars rover for Mars suited astronauts

Unpressurized Mars rovers would lack a pressurized environment for the crew, being functionally similar to the Lunar Roving Vehicle. There are several advantages to having an unpressurized rover as opposed to a pressurized variant, such as a reduced weight. Since range of a potential rover that carries crew from base is important, a light weight is an advantage and therefore is a good choice for long range missions. An unpressurized rovers can also be used to move heavy load, travel short distance from base to the location of a bigger pressurized rover.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Liftoff for Aurora: Europe's first steps to Mars, the Moon and beyond". ESA. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b Fink, Greg (7 June 2017). "Mars Car: Manned Mars Rover Concept Debuts at Kennedy Space Center". Car and Driver. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b c Price, Hoppy; Hawkins, Alisa; Radcliffe, Torrey (16 September 2009). "Austere Human Missions to Mars" (PDF). NASA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d Zakrajsek, James J.; McKissock, David B.; Woytach, Jeffrey M.; Zakrajsek, June F.; Oswald, Fred B.; et al. (2005). Exploration Rover Concepts and Development Challenges (PDF). First AIAA Space Exploration Conference, Orlando, Florida, January 30–February 1, 2005. AIAA–2005–2525. Retrieved 22 September 2018 – via NASA.
  5. ^ Portree, David S. F. (25 October 2012). "Origin of the Apollo-shaped Manned Mars Lander (1966)". WIRED. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Mission Feasibility". Mars One. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  7. ^ "Manned Mars Rover wins Good Design Award". Dexigner. 13 February 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  8. ^ Barber, Todd J. (23 August 2010). "Insider's Cassini: Power, Propulsion, and Andrew Ging". Cassini Solstice Mission. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  9. ^ a b c Vasquez, Robert. "Mars Car: Manned Mars Rover Concept Debuts at Kennedy Space Center". robertvasquez123.wordpress.com. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  10. ^ a b c d "Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle". NASA. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  11. ^ Orwig, Jessica (5 January 2016). "I drove the 6,600-lb 'car' that NASA designed for astronauts on Mars, and I'll never see space exploration the same way again". Business Insider. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  12. ^ a b Malay, Benjamin P. (2001). "Celestial Navigation on the Surface of Mars". United States Naval Academy. Archived from the original on September 23, 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  13. ^ a b c "Mars Rover Navigation Using GPS Self-Calibrating Pseudolite Arrays". Stanford Aerospace Robotics Lab. 1 November 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  14. ^ Grip, Håvard Fjær; et al. (2019). "Flight Control System for NASA's Mars Helicopter" (PDF). NASA. Archived from the original on 28 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  15. ^ a b c "Space Exploration Vehicle Concept" (PDF). NASA. 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  16. ^ "Figure 3. Medium-range rover depicting two astronauts recovering..." ResearchGate. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  17. ^ "Figure 4. Long-range rover with a complex multi-week life support..." ResearchGate. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  18. ^ a b Hunt, Charles D.; van Pelt, Michel O. (2004). "Comparing NASA and ESA Cost Estimating Methods for Human Missions to Mars" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  19. ^ Salotti, Prof. Jean Marc (2012). "PRESSURIZED OR UNPRESSURIZED ROVERS FOR MARS SURFACE EXPLORATION". International Astronautical Foundation. Retrieved May 5, 2022.

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