Tycho: Next Generation Lunar Mobile Human Exploration

Grover (Geologic Rover) was built by the United States Geologic Survey in the mid-1960s to support Apollo astronaut EVA training. We are building a new modernized training rover (Tycho), similar to Grover, that is designed to meet the needs of 21st century human exploration of the Moon (and Mars). As with the original Grover, we are using off-the-shelf industrial and consumer components to build a rugged and robust vehicle. Our development strategy consists of three phases. Tycho I will be very similar to Grover in that it is human driven but will be designed so that it can be easily modified for remote driving (Tycho II) and autonomous driving (Tycho III).

The minimum requirements for Tycho are: drive 15 km/hr on flat terrain, climb slopes up to 15°, and carry cargo of 260 kg (including crew). Tycho dimensions (length 3.35 m, width 1.7 m, ground clearance 40 cm at center) are similar to Grover, with a mass of 600 kg. Tycho is functionally superior to Grover with upgrades that include: wheels that can turn 180 degrees, allowing omni-directional driving and turning in place; a sunlight-readable display panel to show rover systems status, with a planned future update to display real-time rover position on satellite imagery based on inertial tracking; a fully-software-driven control system running on Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) processors to support experimentation with driving modes; and a payload capability for stand-off and in-situ measurements.

The scheduled completion date for Tycho I is September 2018, with operational tests scheduled for later in the fall. Work on the Tycho II remote-driving system is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2019.