Experimental Results for Over-the-Horizon Planetary Exploration Using a LIDAR Sensor

In this paper we present the experimental results validating the approach for autonomous planetary exploration developed by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The goal of this work is to autonomously navigate to remote locations, well beyond the sensing horizon of the rover, with minimal interaction with a human operator. We employ LIDAR range sensors due to their accuracy, long range and robustness in the harsh lighting conditions of space. Irregular triangular meshes (ITM) are used for representing the environment providing an accurate yet compact spatial representation. In this paper after a brief overview of the proposed approach, we discuss the terrain modelling used. A variety of experiments performed in CSA’s Mars emulation terrain that validate our approach are also presented.