Related papers: Optimized Mission Planning for Planetary Explorati…
In unstructured environments the best path is not always the shortest, but needs to consider various objectives like energy efficiency, risk of failure or scientific outcome. This paper proposes a global planner, based on the A* algorithm,…
One of the fundamental limiting factors in planetary exploration is the autonomous capabilities of planetary exploration rovers. This study proposes a novel methodology for trustworthy autonomous multi-robot teams which incorporates data…
This paper presents a novel 3D myopic coverage path planning algorithm for lunar micro-rovers that can explore unknown environments with limited sensing and computational capabilities. The algorithm expands upon traditional non-graph path…
Exploration of the lunar south pole with a solar-powered rover is challenging due to the highly dynamic solar illumination conditions and the presence of permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). In turn, careful planning in space and time is…
Autonomous planetary vehicles, also known as rovers, are small autonomous vehicles equipped with a variety of sensors used to perform exploration and experiments on a planet's surface. Rovers work in a partially unknown environment, with…
Highly accurate real-time localization is of fundamental importance for the safety and efficiency of planetary rovers exploring the surface of Mars. Mars rover operations rely on vision-based systems to avoid hazards as well as plan safe…
Exploration of unknown, unstructured environments, such as in search and rescue, cave exploration, and planetary missions,presents significant challenges due to their unpredictable nature. This unpredictability can lead to inefficient path…
An important capability of autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is autonomous landing while avoiding collision with obstacles in the process. Such capability requires real-time local trajectory planning. Although trajectory-planning…
Long-distance driving is an important component of planetary surface exploration. Unforeseen events often require human operators to adjust mobility plans, but this approach does not scale and will be insufficient for future missions.…
Path planning is one of the most vital elements of mobile robotics, providing the agent with a collision-free route through the workspace. The global path plan can be calculated with a variety of informed search algorithms, most notably the…
The goal of this paper is to develop a continuous optimization-based refinement of the reference trajectory to 'push it out' of the obstacle-occupied space in the global phase for Multi-rotor Aerial Vehicles in unknown environments. Our…
Planetary rover exploration is attracting renewed interest with several upcoming space missions to the Moon and Mars. However, a substantial amount of data from prior missions remain underutilized for path planning and autonomous navigation…
Efficient path planning is key for safe autonomous navigation over complex and unknown terrains. Lunar Zebro (LZ), a project of the Delft University of Technology, aims to deploy a compact rover, no larger than an A4 sheet of paper and…
Autonomous vehicles such as the Mars rovers currently lead the vanguard of surface exploration on extraterrestrial planets and moons. In order to accelerate the pace of exploration and science objectives, it is critical to plan safe and…
Most of the routing algorithms for unmanned vehicles, that arise in data gathering and monitoring applications in the literature, rely on the Global Positioning System (GPS) information for localization. However, disruption of GPS signals…
The rapid expansion of mega-constellations in low Earth orbits has posed significant challenges to space traffic management, necessitating periodic inspections of satellites to ensure the sustainability of the space environment when…
Today, robotics is an auspicious and fast-growing branch of technology that involves the manufacturing, design, and maintenance of robot machines that can operate in an autonomous fashion and can be used in a wide variety of applications…
We present an approach to enhance wheeled planetary rover dead-reckoning localization performance by leveraging the use of zero-type constraint equations in the navigation filter. Without external aiding, inertial navigation solutions…
In addition to conventional ground rovers, the Mars 2020 mission will send a helicopter to Mars. The copter's high-resolution data helps the rover to identify small hazards such as steps and pointy rocks, as well as providing rich textual…
This study proposes a new automated strategy for designing and optimizing three-dimensional interplanetary low-thrust (LT) trajectories. The method formulates the design as a hybrid optimal control problem and solves it using a two-step…