Lunar Cable Installation: Development of a Payload for Rover Integration

In light of humanity's renewed presence on the Moon, which necessitates the establishment of sustainable infrastructure that is not reliant on brief excursions, this thesis seeks to address the pivotal challenge of deploying subsurface power cables under the extreme conditions that prevail on the Moon. The necessity for autonomous cable handling systems capable of operating in vacuum, abrasive regolith and low gravity is emphasised by the focus on buried routing for thermal and radiation protection. This, in turn, enables resilient power networks for future surface habitats and exploration platforms. The present work offers a preliminary proof-of-concept prototype for autonomous cable management, conceived to interface with multi-payload rover platforms. The construction of the bench-top demonstrator involved the utilisation of cost-effective components and 3D-printed parts, drawing upon terrestrial technologies. This demonstrator was designed to explore the fundamental dynamic behaviours of cable handling and deployment mechanisms. A simplified kinematic model was formulated and systematically validated through a series of controlled tests and subsequent data analysis. This process revealed key operational challenges in the cable deployment process. The insights derived from this experimental investigation have informed targeted design modifications and have formed the basis for the development of a more robust second iteration, which is intended for integration with the European Moon Rover System platform. This development represents an advancement towards the realisation of a space-qualified cable deployment payload.