Rover

     The Rover team is responsbile for design not only the rover, but also its deployment mechanism. The goal of the rover team is to design a rover that once deployed, is undamaged and able to move reliable. The rover is housed inside the rocket, which is accounted for by the airframe team. Both the deployment mechanism and the rover must be designed to withstand the stresses of launch, flight, and impact without being damaged. Another important issue was that the rocket's landing position is unknown, so the rover must be able to be deployed and mobile no matter how the rocket lands. The rover was designed to have solar panels on all sides so that, no matter its deployment angle, it would receive some power. The deployment mechanism also was designed to account for this issue so that the rover could be deployed.  Figure 1. This image shows the CAD of the full scale rover deployment mechanism in its close configuration. The nose cone and rover bay tube are shown as transparent.   Figure 2. A labelled diagram of the rover deployment mechanism. The body tube and nose cone are omitted for better visibility..Figure 3. The lead screw separation system prototype before it was mounted inside its body tube.Figure 1: Illustrates the most reliable concept for moving over the ground. The wheel has knobs on the surface to dig through unsettled terrain and provide increased grip/traction. The center and a portion of the front face was hollowed out for weight reduction purposes, with spokes left for structural support. From the central hub on the front face a thick post extends for the majority of the wheel diameter. The post decreases in thickness and shape into a d shaft to allow for motor coupling/connection. The increased thickness until the coupling point is there to reduce flex and sway as the wheels carry the distributed weight of the rover and transmit the torque from the motor to the ground. Finally, the fillets while providing minor weight reduction were actually created to prevent user injury from the likely sharp corners that would be generated in manufacturing of the wheel. Figure 2: Illustrates a very useful concept for the occasion when the terrain conditions will vary wildly and are overall a major concern. The wheel design can possibly permit a hazard to lift the rover out of a proper driving configuration whether a wheel got stuck in a hole or was too small to maneuver over a terrain obstacle. The basic wheel design from Figure 1 carries over into the design of the track wheels a lot, with the weight reduction and motor attachment methods. The major difference wheel wise is the implementation of the teeth in the center of the wheel which engage with the teeth that comprise the belt that allows the system to move over terrain. The belt which is commercially available will be the part actually coming into contact with the ground and moving the rover. The major concern with tracked systems is that the track will disengage from the drive pulleys rendering the vehicle immobile. This situation will be addressed by the deep flat sided grooves that are cut into the drive wheels. Those grooves are intended to totally encapsulate the section of the belt with the teeth to ensure that the belt does not try to climb out of its track. Therefore, the belt and the system as a whole will remain functional by the careful design of the drive system and the constant tension held between the pulleys.