A remotely controlled lunar rover may soon be working on the moon. Virtualization tools allow people on the ground to remotely control the equipment on board the rover to flexibly collect samples, dig up the lunar surface, or assemble other equipment.
Researchers at the University of Bristol's Robotics Laboratory in the United Kingdom have tested their new remote operating system for lunar rovers at the European Space Agency's (ESA) European Space Applications and Telecommunications Centre in Havel, Oxfordshire. They use virtualization tools to control the lunar rover and control the robotic arm to dig and simulate lunar soil. This method does not need to rely on the camera to transmit the video signal, thus avoiding the lag of camera feedback due to the 1.3-second signal delay between the Earth and the Moon. In the future, the satellites of the "Moonlight" project planned by the European Space Agency can relay the signals of the remote operation of the lunar rover.
Joe Louca, of the University of Bristol, said in a statement: "This simulation system can help us operate the lunar robot remotely from Earth, avoiding the problem of signal delays. "
The virtualized simulation system also incorporates "haptics" interactions. In other words, the system provides the user with a sense of touch, simulating the haptic properties of lunar soil in the low gravity of the Moon. This allows the remote operator to better sense how much force is needed to dig up lunar soil, or how much force is needed to scoop up the collected sample. At present, this haptic interaction can only be used in some basic tasks of virtualization, such as compacting the lunar soil or moving the lunar soil with a shovel, and has a limited range of applications and has not been used for more complex tasks.
"We can adjust the intensity of gravity in this simulation system and provide haptic feedback, so that astronauts can perceive the texture and condition of lunar dust under lunar conditions, after all, the gravitational pull of the moon is only one-sixth that of the Earth," Luca said. "
The system can also be used to train future astronauts on the moon, providing them with a realistic simulation environment to get a glimpse of the lunar surface in advance.
"One of the uses could be for astronauts to use this simulation system to prepare for an upcoming mission to the moon," Luca said. "
But before that, Luca said, trust issues need to be overcome. Previous studies have shown that users have psychological barriers when operating virtualized systems, mainly concerned about whether the virtual system will perform as expected in reality.
Luca's team quantified the efficiency and trustworthiness of the virtualized system. They found that when the system collected simulated lunar soil, the efficiency reached 100%, and the confidence level was 92.5%; However, the reliability of pouring out simulated lunar soil is slightly lower. The researchers found that when moving the lunar soil simulation, this can be done precisely by limiting the angle of inclination of the shovel.
Although the system was designed with lunar missions in mind, in principle, the same remotely operated technology could also be used for Mars missions. This technique may be helpful especially when retrieving sample tubes from a rover and loading them onto another vehicle launched from Mars back to Earth.
The budget and timeline for the return of Martian samples are out of control, and NASA has asked the industry to help develop a solution. Rocket Lab recently won a contract to conduct a detailed study of possible solutions to recover samples collected by the Perseverance rover. While it may be too early for remote operations to come into play, they are likely to be used in future missions to return samples to the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and other rocky objects such as comets.
"In the next decade, we will see multiple manned and unmanned missions to the moon, such as China's Chang'e program and NASA's Artemis mission," Luca said. "This simulation system could be a valuable support tool for the preparation or execution phases of these tasks."