祝融号火星车科学探测模式设计与验证

Design and Verification of Scientific Exploration Mode of Zhurong Mars Rover

受通信能力低、能源不足等限制,祝融号火星车有效载荷科学探测需提高探测效率,以有限资源获取尽可能多的有效探测数据。祝融号火星车的巡视探测科学任务着眼于火星局部地区,包括火星车行驶时载荷探测和火星车停止时定点就位载荷探测两个主要工况。统筹考虑祝融号火星车移动能力、通信能力、能源能力、热控能力等约束,合理划分工程活动和科学探测活动可用的资源,协调使用火星车的桅杆和移动系统,优化组合各载荷工作模式,设计了高效载荷探测模式。该探测模式与基于工作模式表的自主探测控制方式相结合,解决了资源受限情况下的多载荷协同探测难题。祝融号火星车有效载荷系统圆满完成了预期探测任务,设计的科学探测模式全部得到在轨验证。结果表明这些模式设计合理有效,满足安全、自主、高效开展科学探测的需求。

The Zhurong Mars rover conducts high resolution in situ surveys in a critical area of Mars.The scientific payloads mounted on the rover include:Navigation and Terrain Camera(NaTeCam),Multispectral Camera(MSCam),Mars Rover Penetrating Radar(RoPeR),Mars Surface Composition Detector(MarSCoDe),Mars Rover Magnetometer(RoMAG)and Mars Climate Station(MCS).Their scientific exploration tasks include studying topography and geological structure of the Mars roving area;surveying the soil structure(profile)of the Mars roving area and searching for water ice;surveying elements,minerals,and rock types of the Mars roving area;and surveying the atmosphere physical characteristics and the surface environment of the Mars roving area.To obtain as much exploration data as possible with limitations on low communication capability and insufficient energy,it is necessary to improve scientific exploration efficiency of the Zhurong Mars rover.There are two major operating conditions for the payloads,conducting roving exploration when the rover moves and in-situ exploration when the rover stops.Several high-efficiency payload exploration modes are developed for those two conditions.When designing the exploration modes,some aspects need to be considered.The first aspect is myriad of constraints,including rover resources and safety,the Martian environment,telecommunication,and the limitations of the software,hardware,and processes involved.The second,the rover is a shared resource:a variety of science and engineering activities must divide the available energy,time,and transmitted data volume,and must coordinate the use of the rover’s mast and mobility systems.The third point is that each payload has multiple operating modes that must be optimized and combined.The exploration modes,working with autonomous control based on work mode command set,solved the problem of multiple payloads performing collaborative scientific exploration under resource shortage conditions.The Zhurong Mars rover has successfully completed the scheduled exploration mission.All scientific exploration modes have been verified.The results demonstrate that the exploration modes are suitable and effective,and can meet the requirements for conducting safe,autonomous,and efficient scientific exploration.