NASA SBIR 2019-I Solicitation

Proposal Summary

PROPOSAL NUMBER:
 19-1- Z5.05-4027
SUBTOPIC TITLE:
 Lunar Rover Technologies for In-situ Resource Utilization and Exploration
PROPOSAL TITLE:
 Fast Advanced Scout Terrain Rover (FASTR) Mobility Architecture for Lunar Missions
SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Motiv Space Systems, Inc.
350 North Halstead Street
Pasadena, CA 91107- 3122
(626) 737-5988

Principal Investigator (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)

Name:
Christopher McQuin
E-mail:
Chris.McQuin@motivss.com
Address:
350 North Halstead Street Pasadena, CA 91107 - 3122
Phone:
(626) 321-4790

Business Official (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)

Name:
Chris Thayer
E-mail:
chris.thayer@motivss.com
Address:
350 North Halstead Street Pasadena, CA 91107 - 3122
Phone:
(626) 389-5785
Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) :
Begin: 1
End: 3
Technical Abstract (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)

Motiv Space Systems and its partner, TRACLabs, propose a novel rover architecture to enable a new and expanding architecture of Lunar exploration and resource utilization.  The proposed Fast Advanced Scout Terrain Rover (FASTR) is a rover mobility architecture designed to 1) to carry, deliver, and/or deploy ISRU and science payloads; 2) detect regolith entrapment and perform escape routines; 3) perform obstacle avoidance and autonomous navigation in unprepared terrain; 4) perform autonomous navigation and human-in-the-loop teleoperation; 5) exhibit traverse speeds in excess of 1m/s in terrain representative of the Lunar environment; 6) generate 3D maps of its navigated terrain for both localization and prospecting purposes; 7) possess an open architecture software development environment for adoption and use by a wide range of entities; and 8) have demonstrated a novel mobility architecture for use on lunar applications with a path to flight.  Current rover technologies require significant human-in-the-loop path planning and intervention, are very slow averaging <1cm/s in typical traverse speeds and are very expensive due to the nature of their custom development cycles.  FASTR aims to advance the state of the art.  The FASTR architecture will enable broad and rapid exploration of lunar regions of interest through autonomous navigation and an increase in traverse speed by two orders of magnitude from current Mars Rovers. FASTR will be capable of deploying a wide array of science/ISRU payloads to prospect, characterize, and collect volatiles of interest.  Through its open architecture design, FASTR will empower faster mission development cycles and increase the pace of rover enhanced missions.  FASTR minimizes the need for human intervention through on-board entrapment detection and escapement.

Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
  1. NASA’a Moon to Mars campaign where advanced mobility systems will be necessary
  2. The Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program whereby as ISRU payload laden rover can be deployed to the surface of the Moon
  3. Discovery and New Frontiers exploration mission opportunities
  4. STMD Technology Demonstration Missions
  5. Fetch Rover for Mars Sample Return
Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)

1. Commercial space entities seeking rover deployments on the moon

2. Government needs for mobile robotics including the DOD, DHS, and DOE

3. First responders and search and rescue operations

4. Commercial terrestrial applications requiring outdoor mobile platforms in the agriculture, mining, manufacturing and utility plant industries

Duration: 6
Form Generated on 06/16/2019 23:16:32