AUTHOR=van der Meer D. , Chovet L. , Bera A. , Richard A. , Sánchez Cuevas Pedro Jesus , Sánchez-Ibáñez J. R. , Olivares-Mendez M. TITLE=REALMS: Resilient exploration and lunar mapping system JOURNAL=Frontiers in Robotics and AI VOLUME=10 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2023.1127496 DOI=10.3389/frobt.2023.1127496 ISSN=2296-9144 ABSTRACT=
Space resource utilisation is opening a new space era. The scientific proof of the presence of water ice on the south pole of the Moon, the recent advances in oxygen extraction from lunar regolith, and its use as a material to build shelters are positioning the Moon, again, at the centre of important space programs. These worldwide programs, led by ARTEMIS, expect robotics to be the disrupting technology enabling humankind’s next giant leap. However, Moon robots require a high level of autonomy to perform lunar exploration tasks more efficiently without being constantly controlled from Earth. Furthermore, having more than one robotic system will increase the resilience and robustness of the global system, improving its success rate, as well as providing additional redundancy. This paper introduces the Resilient Exploration and Lunar Mapping System, developed with a scalable architecture for semi-autonomous lunar mapping