Human Exploration Using Real-Time Robotic Operations (HERRO) (2009-2011) (3)
The CTCV in artificial-gravity configuration. Red arrows indicate the spacecraft's end-over-end rotation. During flight to and from Mars and in Mars orbit the twin solar arrays and large antennas would respectively point continuously toward Sun and Earth. The small antennas would point toward the Truck and Rockhound rovers on Mars. Image credit: NASA.As might be expected, the CTCV's orbital parameters were chosen to place it in line-of-sight radio contact at apoapsis with the Trucks and Rockhounds at their landing sites on opposite sides of Mars. This would enable two two-person geologist teams to take turns teleoperating the Trucks and Rockhounds in two work shifts, each lasting up to eight hours per sol, yielding a total teleoperations time per sol of up to 16 hours.
Over the course of the 549-day CTCV stay in Mars orbit, lighting conditions at the Truck/Rockhound sites during the teleoperations shifts would change. At the non-polar sites shifts would start in early morning during the first third of the mission, around noon during the middle third, and in early evening during the final third. The south polar site would be in radio contact for two periods per sol totaling up to 10.6 hours during the first two-thirds of the mission.
The exploration regions centered on the Truck/Rockhound landing sites would each contain several one-kilometer-diameter areas of interest up to 20 kilometers apart. Within these the teleoperators would seek to identify 10-meter-diameter science sites. The rovers would spend up to two weeks within an area of interest and about a sol at each science site. Truck rover bearing two Rockhound rovers. The image shows the articulated control arms attached to each wheel, twin stowed Rockhounds, the 10-sided solar array, and twin boom-mounted high-gain antennas. Image credit: NASA.Rockhound rover. The light blue boxes at the corners of its two-part body are navigation cameras and laser terrain mappers. Note the six "whegs," the mid-body hinge, hands with fingers and thumbs, and a very normal-appearing geology hammer. Image credit: NASA.The HERRO team described their teleoperated Trucks and Rockhounds in considerable detail. The 800-kilogram Trucks, which could travel at up to 3.6 kilometers per hour, would each have four large independently motorized wheels mounted on "articulated control arms." The arms would permit the Truck to lower its two-meter-square chassis to the surface. This would enable two Rockhounds to disembark for exploration or board for long-range transport or battery charging.
A box on the Truck located behind the Rockhound charging stations would support two low-gain antennas for relaying transmissions to and from the Rockhounds, a mast bearing a vertical four-meter-diameter solar array, and two boom-mounted high-gain antennas for relaying transmissions to and from the CTCV. In addition to batteries, the box would house a drill for sampling tens of meters below the surface and a lab for analyzing samples the drill and Rockhounds collected.
The 145-kilogram Rockhound rover would resemble a mythical centaur. At the front of its horizontal aluminum-frame body would be mounted a vertical robotic torso with shoulders, two arms with elbows and hands, and three cameras in place of a head. It would stand a little more than a meter tall on a level surface.
A motorized "hinge" would divide the rectangular Rockhound body into two 0.5-meter-square parts and a single motor drawing power from batteries would drive six wheel-legs ("whegs") arrayed along its sides. A low-gain antenna for transmissions to and from the Truck, navigation cameras, a small "arsenal" of science instruments, and a rack of tools including a geology hammer would round out its description.
The HERRO team explained that the Rockhound mobility system was based on a "biologically inspired" design developed, built, and tested by Case Western Reserve University. Its movement scheme was modeled on that of the lowly cockroach, which can flex its body and alter its six-legged gait to climb over obstacles taller than it is.
The agile little rover would move at a top speed of about 10 centimeters per second and would be able to climb and descend 45° slopes of loose rocky material. By raising the front half of its body and tilting forward its humanoid torso, it would be able to "rear up" against rock walls to examine and sample features more than two meters above the ground. It would turn its torso 180° to drive backwards and to reach the tools stored on its aft section.
The Rockhound would employ four teleoperational modes. Mode 1, called Traverse to New Location , would see it leave the Truck and move over easy terrain for about an hour at a time. No science would be performed and the rover and its teleoperator on board the CTCV would rely on low-resolution navigation cameras and laser terrain mappers to avoid obstacles. Mode 2, Visual Imagery, would see the Rockhound park in one location while its teleoperator put to use hand tools and microscopic, multispectral, high-resolution visual, and other imaging and sensing systems.
Quiescent/Operator Off Duty, the third teleoperational mode, would see the Rockhound resting in its charging station on board the parked Truck. Charging the Rockhound's batteries would require about 16 hours using an induction charging system that would need no physical contact. The HERRO study team expected that induction might avoid problems created by ever-present airborne Mars dust that could plague a system reliant on a plug and socket. Mode 4, Rockhound Scout Mode, would see the rover move over the surface under teleoperator control for up to eight hours at a time in search of scientifically interesting sites.
In some HERRO documents, the study team suggested that the HERRO mission might include an MSR option. This could take either of two forms: an independent robotic MSR mission or an MSR mission that would rely on the Truck/Rockhound rovers for sample collection.
In the second instance, three MSR lander/ascent vehicles would launch to Mars at the same time as the Truck/Rockhounds. This would add three medium-lift rocket launches to the three slated to occur 26 months ahead of the CTCV launch in the baseline HERRO mission. In both cases, the MSR vehicles would land in the same three regions as the Truck/Rockhound combinations.
In both HERRO MSR scenarios, an independently launched teleoperated sample retrieval vehicle, based possibly on the Orion service module, would collect the sample canisters launched to Mars orbit by the three MSR ascent vehicles and deliver them to the CTCV. Sample retrieval in Mars orbit would, the HERRO team estimated, require retrieval vehicle maneuvers spanning about four months.
As their mission in Mars orbit reached its end, the HERRO mission crew would stop the CTCV's spin, recover the MSR sample canisters, discard the waste-filled food canister, and ignite the three NTR engines to perform TEI. As Mars shrank behind them, they would spin up the CTCV again. About six months later, they would stop the CTCV's spin for the final time, take their places in the uprated Orion, and undock. A short Orion burn would place them on course for Earth-atmosphere reentry.
Meanwhile, the CTCV would swing past Earth. The HERRO study team suggested that it might adjust its course so that it would travel to the Earth-Moon L1 point, where it would park pending possible refurbishment and reuse.
The DRA 5.0 study was completed in 2009 in part to support the activities of the Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee chaired by former aerospace executive Norman Augustine. The Augustine Committee was appointed to advise the new Administration of President Barack Obama concerning NASA's path forward in the 21st century.
The Augustine Committee requested a briefing on the HERRO study. The briefing helped to inform an approach to NASA's future that the Augustine Committee dubbed the "Flexible Path."
As stated at the beginning of this post, the MAWG/MASG envisioned that DRA 5.0 missions would be reached through interim missions — specifically, astronaut stays on board ISS and robotic Mars and piloted Moon missions. The Flexible Path called for new interim missions to be added to this sequence. Although HERRO is not referred to by name in the Augustine Committee's October 2009 final report, among the missions on the Flexible Path was a Mars orbital mission including "joint robotic/human exploration and surface operations [with] sample return."
Adding interim steps to existing U.S. space programs is nothing new. The most obvious example is the addition of Gemini to the NASA piloted program in 1962, a step made necessary when Apollo, which had been conceived initially as mainly an Earth-orbital program, became the U.S. lunar program. Gemini provided opportunities for astronauts, flight controllers, and others to develop new spaceflight skills and for life scientists to determine whether humans could survive in space long enough to reach and return from the Moon.View of the Gemini VII spacecraft from the cockpit of Gemini VI-A in Earth orbit, 15 December 1965. Gemini VII and Gemini VI-A performed the first close rendezvous between two piloted spacecraft. Image credit: NASA.Thumbs up: Robonaut II, a humanoid robotic torso developed by NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) and General Motors, participates in a 2011 field exercise among the volcanic landscapes near Flagstaff, Arizona. Robonaut II's predecessor, the NASA JSC/Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Robonaut robotic torso, was the inspiration for the HERRO Rockhound torso. Robonaut II is shown here attached to the front of a small remotely operated rover. Image credit: NASA.Spaceflight planners suggested interim steps toward humans on Mars long before HERRO. In the 1960s, for example, they proposed piloted Mars and Venus flyby and orbiter missions. In 1993, in the waning days of the abortive Space Exploration Initiative, NASA GRC's Geoffrey Landis, a HERRO study participant, proposed a scenario he dubbed "Footsteps to Mars." These and other proposed interim missions leading toward humans on Mars can be explored by following the links in the "More Information" section below.
In the years since the 2009 DRA 5.0 and HERRO studies, NASA robotic Mars missions have displayed both the capabilities and limitations of robotic landers and rovers on Mars that are remotely operated from distant Earth. The Curiosity lander, which reached Mars on 6 August 2012, proved the capabilities of its aeroshell and skycrane systems. As of July 2022, after nearly a decade on Mars, the Curiosity rover had traversed only 28.15 kilometers.
Lunar and planetary surface teleoperations remain of interest both inside and outside NASA. In the years since the HERRO study, astronauts on board the ISS in Earth orbit have teleoperated robots on Earth. The lunar-orbiting Gateway station, now under development in NASA's Artemis lunar program, is intended to support teleoperation of exploring robots on the Moon. SourcesHuman Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0, NASA-SP-2009-556, Mars Architecture Steering Group, B. Drake, editor, July 2009.
COMPASS Final Report: Human Exploration Using Real-Time Robotic Operations (HERRO) — Rockhound Design, CD-2009-34, NASA Glenn Research Center/Case Western Reserve University/Carnegie Mellon University, August 2009.
COMPASS Final Report: Human Exploration Using Real-Time Robotic Operations (HERRO) — Truck Design, CD-2009-35, NASA Glenn Research Center/Case Western Reserve University/Carnegie Mellon University, August 2009.
COMPASS Final Report: Human Exploration Using Real-Time Robotic Operations (HERRO) — Crew Telerobotic Control Vehicle (CTCV) Design, CD-2009-36, NASA Glenn Research Center/Case Western Reserve University, September 2009.
Seeking a Human Spaceflight Program Worthy of a Great Nation, Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee, October 2009.
"HERRO (Human Exploration Using Real-Time Robotic Operations): A Robotically Intensive Strategy for Human Exploration," G. Schmidt and Steve Oleson, NASA Glenn Research Center, presentation materials, 28 October 2009.
"HERRO: A Science-Oriented Strategy for Crewed Missions Beyond LEO," AIAA-2010-69, G. Schmidt, G. Landis, S. Oleson, S. Borowski, and M. Krasowski; paper presented at the 48th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting in Orlando, Florida, 4-7 January 2010.
"Human Exploration of Mars Design Reference Architecture 5.0," JSC-CN-19120, B. Drake, S. Hoffman, and D. Beaty; paper presented at the IEEE Aerospace Conference in Big Sky, Montana, 6-13 March 2010.
"Human Exploration Using Real-Time Robotic Operations (HERRO) — Crew Control Vehicle (CTCV) Design," AIAA-2010-6817, S. Oleson, M. McGuire, L. Burke, D. Chato, J. Fincannon, G. Landis, C. Sandifer, J. Warner, G. Williams, T. Colozza, J. Fittje, M. Martini, T. Packard, D. McCurdy, and J. Gyekenyesi; paper presented at the 46th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exposition in Nashville, Tennessee, 25-28 July 2010.
"HERRO Missions to Mars and Venus using Telerobotic Surface Exploration from Orbit," G. Schmidt, G. Landis, and S. Oleson; paper presented at the AIAA Space 2011 Conference & Exposition in Long Beach, California, 26-29 September 2011.
More Information(...)
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