Development of a Payload Dispenser for Lunar Exploration Rovers

Since its beginning, the exploration of planets, moons, and asteroids has been crucial in humankind’s development, introducing innovations that have profoundly impacted science, technology, society, and everyday life. This thesis project aims to design, prototype, and test a payload dispenser integrated with lunar exploration rovers. This system must address the unique challenges posed by the extreme lunar environment while deploying a wide range of payloads, such as scientific instruments and localization tags which will enhance the flexibility of lunar missions. The proposed solution includes the mechanical design of different mechanisms and subsequent analyses of these options to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each projected subsystem. Moreover, the design of a reliable control logic that autonomously manages the release of each payload has been developed. In order to facilitate the actuators’ low-level control logic MicroROS has been adopted. This advanced framework represents the major innovation of this work, allowing the execution of a ROS2 node directly on microcontrollers. Furthermore, using cameras in combination with gyroscopes and accelerometers, a feedback system has been designed to evaluate the pose of the deployed payloads and their position relative to the rover and then on the global map. The developed prototype underwent both computer simulations and physical testing to verify the structural integrity and the actual mechanism performances. In conclusion, this work introduces an innovative system that contributes to making more versatile, flexible, and autonomous future lunar robotic missions, expanding the available technologies exploitable for space exploration.