The Simulation-Based Engineering Lab (SBEL) has co-authored a new paper, in collaboration with NASA, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jiaotong University in Shanghai, and ProtoInnovations (Pittsburgh), that challenges traditional methods of testing lunar rover mobility on Earth. For decades, rover prototypes were lightened to one-sixth their mass and driven in Earth’s deserts to approximate lunar conditions. The study demonstrated, through simulation, that this approach leads to overly optimistic predictions of rover performance on the Moon.
The research was conducted in conjunction with the VIPER rover mission. Results showed that while Earth sands are compressed under stronger gravity and thus provide greater support, lunar regolith is looser and more easily sheared, reducing rover mobility. Using the open-source simulation framework Chrono, developed by SBEL in collaboration with the University of Parma (Italy), researchers validated these findings against data from NASA’s SLOPE lab and established granular scaling laws for lunar soil simulation.
The paper is available as an open-access publication, and the VIPER rover model and simulation scripts are freely accessible to the community. This work reflects SBEL’s ongoing commitment to advancing rover terramechanics through collaboration across academia, government, and industry.
