CMU lunar rover going to the moon

The United States is the only country to land men on the surface of the moon and return them safely to the Earth.

But unlike Russia and China, the U.S. has yet to launch an unmanned lunar rover and operate it on the moon.

Thanks, however, to the Pittsburgh connection between Carnegie Mellon University and aerospace company Astrobotic Technology, it is now close to happening.

Iris, a 4-pound robot designed by CMU students, has passed its critical design review by NASA and Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, whose Peregrine lander will deliver the robot to the lunar surface. The target date is fall 2021.

“We are moving forward – we’re going to the moon,” said project manager Raewyn Duvall.

Duvall, a Ph.D. student in the electrical and computer engineering department, said the process resulted in a few revisions, including replacing prototype parts with flight components this summer. The four-wheeled robot will be tested to prove it can handle a trip to the moon without creating problems for Peregrine or payloads aboard the lunar lander.

“This is going to be an exciting summer,” said William “Red” Whittaker, a professor at CMU’s Robotics Institute. “The vision, design and implementation for this robot are driven by amazing student power, unprecedented for a space venture of this ambition and technical challenge.”

Last year, NASA awarded a contract to Astrobotic to deliver 14 scientific payloads to the vicinity of Lacus Mortis, or Lake of Death, a large pit the size of Heinz Field. In a seperate agreement with CMU, Astrobotic has agreed to deliver Iris and a CMU arts package called MoonArk on that mission.

Whittaker and his students envision it as the prototype for a new fleet of affordable robots that could be used by small research groups without the resources of a space agency, CMU said.

The robot was recently named Iris, in part to honor Siri Maley, a former master’s student in mechanical engineering who championed the robot’s development, said the statement. (Iris is Siri spelled backwards). Also, the robot’s main sensors are two video cameras and, in cameras, an iris is a diaphragm that controls the amount of light entering the lens.

“The fact that it’s going into space has been a strong pull for student involvement,” said Duvall.

“This project is pretty important to me,” said Nick Acuna, a sophomore mechanical engineering major and mechanical lead for the Iris project. “It lets you dream about what you can accomplish in the future. I know a lot of great people have come through this project. We have the privilege of being the team in the semester when we bring it all to fruition.”