Taxonomy, systems review and performance metrics of planetary exploration rovers

A taxonomy of planetary exploration rovers is presented, followed by a review of systems used in missions and in an experimental phase. The baseline design emerges as four or six wheels, rocker-bogie based passive suspension and all wheel driving/selected wheel steering. A trend is also apparent in the use of wheel - legged hybrid locomotion. The performance metrics are presented by which the differing configurations of the locomotion subsystem for wheeled rovers with a passive suspension may be systematically evaluated. The taxonomy and aggregated metrics presented in this paper aid in the comparison and selection of rover characteristics, while the baseline design is a representative example of current practices and future trends.