A lunar explorer self-contained PicoRover Joshua Tristancho * , Michael Barrucco † , Ryan Weed ‡ , David Masten § , Sean Casey ¶ In this paper some results of the study group of the Team FREDNET is presented, which designs a lunar rover for an open source mission to the Moon within the Google Lunar X-Prize (GLXP). Team FREDNET (TFN) is an open source non-profit program that combines the talents of scientists, engineers, and technologists to create a viable solution for the continued exploration of the lunar environment. A relatively simple model that fulfills all basic GLXP mission requirements of lunar rovers is presented. This design is based on a sphere that is able to roll in a regolith slope and steer over the surface. This is possible thanks to a very light weight self-enclosed device, that is the result of having selected Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components to conform the basic subsystems inside the box. This model has a diameter smaller than 0.15 meters and weights less than 500 grams. Moreover, it has a large payload area inside that is occupied by an Elphel model High Definition (HD) camera. The study of the Team FREDNET rover group involves a minimal number of subsys- tems. Each subsystem is afford by the technical expertise of the open source community. These subsystems are communications, thermal control, radiation protection, power supply, image processing, attitude determination, positioning and disposal. The communication and thermal issues as well as the duration of the mission are optimized in order to min- imize the exposure to solar radiation and to the extreme effects of the Moon’s thermal environment. I. Introduction Imagine to design, to build and to operate a complete lunar mission by the global community. This can be the first step inside a contest to initialize the Moon exploration promoted neither the government not the industry but by an universal team. According to The New York Times, Chang [1] reports, ”President Obama will end NASA’s return mission to the moon and turn to private companies to launch astronauts into space when he unveils his budget request to Congress next week, an administration official said Thursday.” The unnamed official said NASA would be given a ”more sustainable path,” but according to the article this has ”angered some members of Congress, particularly from Texas...and Florida.” Even though NASA would receive about $6 billion more over five years, it is ”much less” than that recommended by the Augustine Commission. The article notes this plan ”would further dismantle what remains of the human spaceflight initiative started by the Bush administration,” but Augustine panel member Sally Ride complemented the plan as an ’innovative approach for NASA.” It seams that manned Moon exploration may wait a few decades. For this reason, private sector must take action. Is the Moon exploration an activity for the industry or is a governmental responsibility? In one hand, it is clear that industry only will take profit when the balance between cost and benefits decays to the benefit band and seams that for the moment is not the case. In the other hand government is focused in other priorities. Who goes to explore the Moon and give a feasible response to the industry about the valorous resource that the Moon is for the humanity? To answer this question we want to raise the option of the Open Source approach. * Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) Aerospace Engineer, Spain. joshua.tristancho@upc.edu † Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc. Systems Engineer, USA. michael.barrucco@honeywell.com ‡ Australian National University, Canberra ACT 2612, Australia ryan.weed@anu.edu.au § Masten Space Systems, Inc. PO Box N. Mojave, CA 93502 dmasten@masten-space.com ¶ Universities Space Research Association, NASA MS 211-3, Moffett Field, CA 94035 scasey@sofia.usra.edu 1 of 12 38th COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Bremen, Germany, 18-25 July 2010