Design, Analysis and Testing of Mars Tumbleweed Rover Concepts

A Mars Tumbleweed rover is a spherical, wind-driven, planetary rover. Compared with conventional rovers, a tumbleweed rover can travel farther faster and gain access to areas such as valleys and chasms that previously were inaccessible. This paper presents design, mathematical modeling, computer simulation, and testing of various tumbleweed rover concepts. In particular, we present wind-tunnel data indicating that a box-kite configuration represents a promising tumbleweed rover design, we show that a working box-kite–type tumbleweed can be constructed, and we show that center of mass variation shows promise as the basis of a tumbleweed rover navigation system.

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