Michele Faragalli, who is also a McGill University graduate student at the Center for Intelligent Machines, delivered his remarks Wednesday at the Planetary and Terrestrial Mining Sciences Symposium, which runs Sunday to Wednesday.
The Ottawa-based company has been diversifying into rover technology as the end of the shuttle program looms – the last mission is set to launch July 8.
Neptec, out of a contract awarded last July, has been testing Juno on how well different configurations of the rover are climbing hills, turning corners and carrying equipment.
The roughly four-feet-by-three-feet rover is capable of mounting obstacles of half a metre and climbing slopes of 20 degrees. Juno II, the next prototype, will have a three-speed gear box, a remote control station and multiple types of traction systems, among other features.
Juno is not designed for space, but as a testbed for Canadian Space Agency requirements outlined in the contract Neptec received last year.
In November 2010, Neptec also won an $11.5-million CSA contract to develop a Lunar Exploration Light Rover that will be tested in analogue sites in 2012.
"One of the main issues of doing one rover for several scenarios is the performance. It may not be the same for every mission," said Mr. Faragalli, adding the solution is to choose the best trade-off.
One example of such a trade-off would be in rover wheels. Flexibility and durability are two opposing requirements, but both are needed on the moon, which has rocky and abrasive regolith soil a rover must deal with.
At McGill, Mr. Faragalli is part of a group trying to figure out how to make one type of wheel that can be used in many environments. This is already a common occurrence on Earth, where a rubber wheel is used in everything from bikes to Formula 1 race cars – just with different configurations, he said.
"I'll use this joke now: We don't want to reinvent the wheel because so many people have done this before," Mr. Faragalli quipped.
In past years, Neptec provided a laser camera to inspect the shuttle's tile prior to re-entry, created an advanced space vision system to watch astronauts working "outside", and tested out TriDAR, a laser ranging and docking system designed for space vehicles.
Juno includes contributions from Ontario Drive and Gear Ltd., Com Dev Canada, McGill University, the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology Inc. and NGC Aerospace.
