Rover Design for Polar Astrobiological Exploration

Abstract

LORAX is a robotic mission to characterize the distribution of microbes in Antarctica’s ice sheets. Robotic platform requirements include navigational autonomy and clean, sustainable power systems to operate unattended for a month without introducing contamination that would affect the results. This paper details the LORAX investigation, the navigational autonomy development and testing, and an analysis of wind and solar power to accomplish this mission.