Evolution of a prototype lunar rover: Addition of laser-based hazard detection, and results from field trials in lunar analog terrain

This paper presents the results of field trials of a prototype lunar rover traveling over natural terrain under safeguarded teleoperation control. Both the rover and the safeguarding approach have been used in previous work. The original contributions of this paper are the development and integration of a laser hazard detection system, and extensive field testing of the overall system. The laser system, which complements an existing stereo vision system, is based on a line-scanning laser ranger viewing the area 1 meter in front of the rover. The laser system has demonstrated excellent performance: zero misses and few false alarms operating at 4 Hz. The overall safeguarding system guided the rover 43 km over lunar analogue terrain with 0.8 failures per kilometer.