Determine the Payload Capacity of a Rover by Simulation and Experiment

Determining the capacity of a planetary exploration rover to carry payload is of high importance in the design and development phase. For example, the maximum mass, size and power demand must be determined such that the rover is able to undertake its mission with safety margin. This article presents a method involving multibody dynamics simulations and prototype tests to determine the maximum payload mass capacity given a rover mechanical subsystem design. The simulations provide a large number of data points in different environments, the prototype tests serve to validate selected scenarios to permit extrapolation in simulation. The rimless wheel rover for extraterrestrial cave exploration “SCOUT”, currently in development at DLR, serves as example. It shows the practicality and limitations of the proposed method. The method is easily extendable to other domains and systems.