RAMA

Rover for Advanced Mission Applications

November 2007 – February 2009
European Space Agency (ESA) project /under subcontract to Thales Alenia Space, as part of Surface Architecture Studies

Parameters and design constraints for a mobile research laboratory as surface architecture applicable to the moon and Mars are researched and analysed and serve as the basis scientific and operational requirements, as defined in the Surface Architecture Study. RAMA is both acronym and concept, the latter being rooted in the late science fiction work Rendezvous with Rama written by Sir Arthur C. Clark. RAMA is a pressurized vehicle serving astronauts as a habitat, refuge, research/laboratory and workshop during surface transverse of extraterrestrial planetary bodies.

Fundamental issues such as Habitability, Human-Machine Interface, Safety, Dust Mitigation, Inter-planetary Contamination and Radiation Protection are addressed in the report as well as in the design of RAMA. The RAMA report describes the technologies and subsystems required to support the vehicle and a crew of two or three for the duration of approximately 40 days.

LIQUIFER team – Waltraut Hoheneder, Barbara Imhof, René Waclavicek, Susmita Mohanty, Stephen Ransom, Norbert Frischauf, Sandra Häuplik-Meusburger, Kürsad Özdemir, Max Grüter

Image: RAMA, visualization: LIQUIFER