COYOTE III : DEVELOPMENT OF A MODULAR AND HIGHLY MOBILE MICRO ROVER

Robotic exploration missions are gaining in importance for the exploration of our solar system. A wide range of different scientific goals have been formulated for future exploration of Moon and Mars. In order to achieve these goals a need arises for robotic systems and mission set-ups with increasing complexity. Coyote III is developed within the scope of the project TransTerrA, which aims to implement a logistics chain to handle complex mission tasks. Within this paper the design considerations for Coyote III as well as the development and overall modularity concept, including a modular manipulation device, are presented. Coyote III is a highly mobile modular micro rover platform, able to act as a shuttle rover performing autonomous operations.