Yuvaaan is a Mars Rover build in the hope of conceptualizing, designing, developing and operating an astronaut-assistive next-gen Mars Rover and perform specific missions in Mars simulated conditions. The rover is designed to be a fully autonomous rover, capable of performing tasks such as mapping, sample collection, and sample analysis. The rover is also capable of performing tasks such as obstacle avoidance, navigation, and communication.
Yuvaan is a Mars Rover designed for completing various missions which include:
- Instrument Deployment and Manintenance Mission (IDMM)
- Reconnaissance and Delivery Operation (RDO)
- Autonomous Expedition (AutEx)
- Sample Collection and Analysis (SCA)
In this mission, the rover was be required to conduct reconnaissance operation over terrain which was 500m away from the base station. The rover searches, locates, pick up, and deliver objects to specific locations based on GPSS coordinates provided to the rover, then it stores the objects until the mission’s end to deliver to the base station. The rover is also required to deploy and maintain instruments on the surface of Mars.
This mission is divided into two stages, Instrument Deployment and Instrument Maintenance. The rover traverses a short distance to operate on a mock-up instrument panel to perform a set of precise maintenance and deployment operations. It uses a Robotic Manipulator to pick up objects such as screwdrivers, wrenches, and other tools with a payload of 2Kg. The rover is also required to deploy and maintain instruments on the surface of Mars.
The rover traverses in a moderately rugged terrain autonomously with constant video and telemetry feedback to the base station. The rover uses LiDAR to camera to map the terrain and locate the markers then it goes close to the marker to see the direction thenn navigate through the terrain.
The rover functions as a Mobile Science Laboratory to collect samples from designated sites and perform basic science evaluation of these samples using a suite of carefully designed tests and experiments to identify and characterise the sites for their capabilities to support microbial life and seek signs of extinct or extant life in those sites.
The Samples that were investigated by the rover on-site, are also brought back to the base station uncontaminated and all instruments/tests are on-board the rover. The data collected by the rover include data rekated to soil, rocks and Martian atmosphere. It also documents each selected site by from where the soil sample was taken by generating a wide-angle panorama of a aspect 1:3 height to width ratio showing the full context of the site. The panorama includes the cardinal directions and scale, GPS coordinates of each site, elevation and accuracy range.