Human-Robot Lunar Exploration: Pressurized vs. Unpressurized Rovers

A study is conducted to determine the relative productivity of employing two pressurized or two unpressurized robotic rovers with two teams of astronauts to accomplish a group of activities on the Moon. An automated planning tool is used to calculate the optimal sequence of events, given an objective function and sets of assumptions and constraints. For the mission scenario studied, a pair of pressurized rovers is shown to be about 7 times as productive as a pair of unpressurized rovers when calculating benefits divided by marginal operational costs. This is primarily due to a constraint that limits astronauts to a maximum of 8 hours per day in space suits. The unpressurized rovers require the astronauts to wear space suits at all times, severely limiting the distance they can travel from the lander-habitat; the pressurized rovers permit the astronauts to remove their suits while driving, monitoring robotic activities, and resting between work periods.