Space Exploration Challenges A Novel Investigation and Study of Unmanned Space Vehicles

Space exploration has become one of the most significant endeavors today, driven by global innovation and technological efforts that focus on space observation and the study of extraterrestrial life through interplanetary travel. This work aims to systematically review and analyze the multi-system challenges encountered by current and past generations of rovers, such as Spirit, Curiosity, Perseverance, and Pragyan, with a focus on power systems, autonomous navigation, and maneuvering capabilities which are common problems, and can be addressed in multiple ways. (1) Current power systems often rely on solar panels. The lifecycle of these systems can be significantly extended by developing a model-based design that incorporates surface mechanics, and by installing miniature shakers that generate specific frequencies of vibrations to dislodge dust and foreign particles deposited on the surface of solar panels during events such as dust/sandstorms and impact events. Renewable energy sources could have remarkable advantages for power, and solar panels are the best alternatives in the long run for future space operations. (2) Autonomous navigation is also a complex challenge, as unexpected events on extraterrestrial bodies can lead to catastrophic failures; these issues can be mitigated by applying machine learning algorithms such as deep neural networks, multi-head latent attention (MLA) models, and hardware like neural processing units will analyze real-time obstacles to make high precision decisions and allow more time for maneuvering by avoiding damage to critical systems such as wheels. By examining these challenges, we seek to identify and propose targeted engineering strategies that can enhance the performance and reliability of future interplanetary vehicles.