高性能星球车车轮研究进展

Review on High-performance Wheels in Planetary Rovers

作为直接与星表相互作用的部件,星球车车轮不仅需要起到承载作用,还要为车辆提供足够的驱动力和转向稳定性,并且能够适应星球表面松软的地形。首先,回顾了国内外13辆成功发射的月球车、火星车车轮结构,总结了最新的星球车车轮研究进展;然后,剖析了限制高性能星球车车轮研制的因素(环境、质量、强度、尺寸和结构等),弹性轮凭借优异的减振性能,成为未来星球车车轮的发展趋势;最后,建议中国高性能星球车车轮的研究着眼于弹性轮新材料的开发以及弹性结构的优化。

The wheels are the parts that directly contact with the planetary terrain which will not only bear the load,but also provide adequate driving torque and steering stability for the rover.In addition,the wheels shall be able to traverse soft terrain.In this paper,the wheel structures of 12 Lunar or Mars rovers which have been successfully launched from American,China and Russia were reviewed,and the latest research progress of the planetary rover wheels was summarized.Then,the factors(environment,mass,strength,size,and structure,etc.)restricting the development of high-performance planetary rover wheels were analyzed.With excellent vibration reduction performance,flexible wheel became the development trend of the future lunar rover wheel.In the end,it was suggested that the research of high-performance planetary rover wheels in China should focus on the development of new materials and the optimization of elastic structure.