Rovers better equipped for the Moon: GMV tests new locomotion system

GMV has launched a testing campaign in Warsaw as part of the Distal Steering and Traction Actuation for Noxious Temperatures (DISTANT) project, which aims to develop a new locomotion system for planetary exploration rovers. Funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), the project is being carried out by a consortium led by GMV and comprising Brno University of Technology (VUT), PIAP Space, and Spacive. The tests have taken place at Spacive’s facilities at Poland’s National Center for Nuclear Research.

The consortium has designed a system that allows the wheel motors and suspension and steering mechanisms to be housed inside the rover’s body, improving thermal efficiency and shielding these components from direct exposure to the environment. A key challenge during the campaign has been to transfer motion efficiently from the rover’s body to its wheels and associated mechanisms while protecting them from lunar dust.

GMV and VUT integrated the system in Brno, while PIAP Space hosted the test readiness review (TRR) and preliminary testing. In Warsaw, the system underwent thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing using a lunar regolith simulant. The trials took place in a vacuum chamber at Spacive’s facilities, where conditions ranging from a vacuum to temperatures between −173°C and 127°C could be reproduced. The system was driven across a bed of simulated lunar regolith to assess its performance under these conditions.

The next round of testing will take place in Tres Cantos, where GMV will evaluate the system using its Regolith Simulation Testbed (REST) facility. The project’s results will be available once the full testing program has been completed.