Design and development of a multimodal sensor head for lunar lava tube exploration

As part of the Horizon 2020 operational grants, DFKI is developing collaborative robotics to explore and map lunar lava tubes. These tubes are accessible via collapsed ceilings, which allow orbital cameras to observe the openings. However, little is known about the interior structure and morphology of these tubes. Therefore, to explore the internal structure of lunar lava tubes and to evaluate their suitability for human outposts, DFKI aims to develop a small autonomous rover that can be rappelled into the pit through the skylight. This rover will need a host of sensors capable of performing scientific analysis and providing navigational data. It also requires a degree of functional redundancy to improve reliability. This will be achieved through a review of the expected environment, as well as a careful selection of the sensor modes incorporated into the head. Following the fixing of sensor modalities, a preliminary sensor head designed to be incorporated onto the Coyote III rover will be presented. The proposal presentation will include an outline of the problem, design objectives, methodology, and project impact.