Bot on Film: Photographing, Videoing, and Communicating with Selene



The rover's camera consists of a stereo pair of high resolution cameras modeled after the Panoramic Camera found on the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity [11,12,13]. This camera will be primarily used for taking panoramic pictures of the lunar surface. Unlike the camera found on the Mars rovers, this camera will not be attached to a rotating mast. The camera will stay still, attached to the rover's chassis. The rover itself will rotate to obtain 360 degree photos. The rover will also use this camera to take a self portrait while on the moon. Mirrors on either side of the camera will swing in front of it in order for the robot to obtain these pictures. The camera will take both video and still pictures, documenting the rover's time on the moon. To protect the camera from moon dust, a glass sphere will cover the camera lens. A metal "eyelid" will cover the sphere when the camera is not in use. Soft brushes inside the metal shell will clean off the glass when the shell closes and opens. In this way, the robot's camera will be able to "blink" and clean itself when it becomes dusty.


Communication is an essential key to the lunar expedition requirements. Since it is mandatory to transfer at least 1G of information back to Earth, wireless communication is critical. One instrument that will be used on the rover would be a small omniantenna, a device which allows signals to be found regardless of its position. Advantages included are its light weight and reliability. One possible disadvantage would be the slow pace at which the information would be transferred back to Earth. However, we concluded that the benefits of the omniantenna outweighed the drawbacks. This antenna will work with an ultra-high frequency (UHF) radio communications system to send and receive information in its interactions with scientists on earth [14]. During her mission Selene' communication system will prove efficient and reliable.


One Small Step for Rover-kind: Documenting the Apollo Missions In addition to the still pictures and videos that make up the Mooncast, Selene will document man-made artifacts in the Sea of Tranquility. While on the moon, she will take still photographs regularly and autonomously at pre-programmed intervals. If an object she photographs does not share characteristics with any of the typical formations of the lunar landscape programmed into her memory, she will alert the scientists on earth with a "question" signal. The photograph will be sent to earth and examined briefly, and a signal will be returned to Selene. This will either instruct Selene to continue on her programmed path or to approach the object in question and return more visual evidence to earth. This feature will be manually overridden once Selene has returned enough photographs of debris from other lunar missions. The images Selene collects in the Sea of Tranquility will show the traces left behind by the previous lunar explorers who inspired her mission.