Developing Local Trajectory Planning for a Lunar Micro Rover

The MoonRanger micro-rover will explore the South Pole of the Moon in search of water ice. Its small size, and therefore limited power and communication capabilities, necessitates autonomous navigation rather than teleoperation. MoonRanger’s size and limited computing also introduce unique challenges to designing robust methods of navigation. This work describes the trajectory planning algorithms and architecture that will allow MoonRanger to operate safely and efficiently on the surface of the Moon. We verify that these methods meet mission requirements through tests in simulation and with a surrogate rover, and show that the rover effectively avoids dangers while making progress towards specified goals.