The Analyse of the Influence of External Disturbance on the Motion of a Six-Wheeled Lunar Rover

Since lunar rover may run on the uneven surface of the moon, it is inevitable for external disturbances cause the lunar rover´s unexpected move. We investigate the effects of external disturbance. For the purpose of simplification, the six-wheeled-rocker-bogie lunar rover is considered as a six-wheeled vehicle with four steering wheels. Based on automotive theory, the steering dynamic equation is built. External disturbance is expressed as a force acted on the mass center of the rover. Laplace transform is introduced. Our research results show that the travel changes of the rovers will be different distinctly when the rovers with different steering characteristics are disturbed simultaneously. The US (under steering) lunar rover will restrain the motion caused by external disturbances, while the OS(over steering) lunar rover will further the motion caused by external disturbance. The conclusions we reached have important significance in guiding the design of lunar rover.