Recent advances in microtechnology and mobile robotics have made it feasible to create extremely small automated or remote-controlled vehicles which open new application frontiers. One of these possible applications is the use of nanorovers (robotic vehicles with a mass of order 1 kg or less) in planetary exploration. NASA and Japan's ISAS are cooperating on the first mission to collect samples from the surface of an asteroid and return them to Earth for in-depth study. The ISAS MUSES-C mission will be launched on a Japanese launch vehicle in July 2002 from Japan toward a redezvous with the asteroid 1989ML in September 2003. A NASA-provided nanorover will conduct in-situ measurements on the surface. Asteroid samples will be returned to Earth by MUSES-C via a parachute-borne recovery capsule in June 2006. This paper describes the rover being created for this mission and related technology developments.


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    Title :

    The MUSES-CN nanorover mission and related technology


    Contributors:
    Wilcox, B.H. (author) / Jones, R.M. (author)


    Publication date :

    2000-01-01


    Size :

    1077721 byte





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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