When it comes to leaving our home planet, weight is one of the many limiting factors pertaining to space travel. Weight is such an important factor because the heavier the rocket is the more expensive the mission cost. To decrease the weight the team has been tasked with developing a human powered rover that can complete the 2020 NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge course. The Rover is able to maneuver around obstacles while the driver’s complete tasks required for the challenge course mission. The rover does this while being able to travel on various ground types that are similar to the Martian surface. The rover being human powered gets rid of the need for engines or battery packs. Instead the rover converts pedaling power from the riders into energy that propels the riders. This also gets rid of the need to send fuel or more hardware besides what is required for the mission. This decreases the overall weight of the rocket at launch. Our team developed unique wheels to improve upon the traditional design giving the rover better stability in foreign environments. Task related tools are also needed to carry out experiments and collect data. These tools are designed to accomplish an assortment of mission critical tasks such as several sample collections and general use of the tools. Our team is producing a functional and reliable rover that provides a solution to short range ground travel on distant planets. This solution provides a rover that safely transports both people and the required equipment to various locations on these planets. From the design of the wheels to the layout chassis the entire rover is built and designed by senior mechanical engineering students.

Our future work includes:
Integrate rack and pinion assembly into current platform
Begin manufacturing
Lightweighting structural components:Optimize geometries to provide desired factor of safety and reduce weight
Integrate remaining components and systems into platform ​