July 2019 – August 2021
European Space Agency (ESA) project
Trailer develops a novel architecture for the robotic cooperation between two rovers working in tandem in lunar surface exploration missions. The system is comprised of one agile and power-heavy rover TRACTOR, equipped with high-performance locomotion and navigation technology, a wireless transceiver, short-term energy storage, and sample acquisition system. WAIN, the second rover, actively trails TRACTOR and is equipped with limited locomotion and navigation capacity, high power generation and storage, and a wireless network that assures lunar-earth communication. WAIN also hosts a scientific laboratory for sample collection and analysis.
Consortium partners COMEX – France / DFKI Robotics Innovation Center (RIC) – Germany / LIQUIFER Systems Group – Austria
LIQUIFER team Barbara Imhof, Waltraut Hoheneder, René Waclavicek, Bob Davenport
Image: Trailer Consortium, visualization: LIQUIFER, 2019