Student-Led Project proposed to NASA BIG Idea Challenge

CableCat: Powering the PSR

Objectives & Technical Approach

• Establish power infrastructure to the Permanently Shadowed Regions (PSRs) on the lunar surface of scientific interest.
• Enable new missions of science robots operating within a PSR by providing a power supply station to allow the robots be 100% self-sufficient.
• Develop an autonomous 2-wheeled spool (rover) to navigate into the desired a PSR, unspooling the power/data cable.
• Design the spool such that it guarantees always in right posture while traveling on uncertain terrain.

Team

Team Lead	Andrew Barth (PhD Student)
Mechanical Design	Changchun Wu, Jiaqi Wang, Junming Shan, Qiyong Yang
Lunar Environment	Tim Hammer, Michael Saxer
Control, Stabilization	Prithev Govindasamy Srinivasan
Prototype Construction	Caleb Bisig
Cable Design	Trent Gatz
Navigation & Mapping	William Kelly, Michael Burgess, Daniel Shircliff
Cameras	Selena Laikos, Vincent Iskander
Faculty Advisors	Dr. Ou Ma, Dr. Janet Dong, Dr. Shaaban Abdallah

Project Status

• Completed system design and analysis
• Completed a ready-to-build design
• Prototype work on hold due to COVID19 shutdown

Publications

• A. Barth, C. Bisig, O. Ma, J. Dong, and S. Abdallah, “CableCat: An Autonomous System to Develop Power and Data Infrastructure on the Moon”, 2020 IFA International Astronautical Congress (IAC), 12-14, Dubai, October , 2020.
• A. Barth, C. Bisig, O. Ma, J. Dong, and S. Abdallah, “Prototype design …”, to be submitted to AIAA ASCEND 2020.