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Controlling the ExoMars Rover via Radio |
The 19th of October 2019 we open our working site (ESAC) in the ESA Open Day, ESA open the doors of the ESAC center to all people interested in the technologies developed by ESA in Spain. There was a lot of activities related to the space industry, and around 2400 people participate in the ESA Open Day. The CESAR Team developed an experiment about how to control ExoMars Rover by radio using CESAR's satellite ground station.
Scaled 1:2 Exomars rover in ESAC installations
During the experiment we use a Exomars Rover scaled model 1:2 with an antenna and a software controled be radio, and using the CESAR control room we move the rover using the antennas of the satellite station pointing to the robotic rover. The visitors send the commands to move the Rover Rosalind Franklin.
The people can see the spacecraft moving on a Martian scenary, where the monitors explain more details about the control of the rover and the Exomars mission, looking the rover movement controlled from another site of the ESAC center by Radio.
 
In transmission, in the CESAR room, there was an activity of Introduction to satellite communications, and the final part of the class was about controling the rover with the ground station. The people had an interface to create the commands that they wanted to send. After having the mission program, they sent it to the rover by radio using the satellite station.
Like a real mission, the participants had to study the situation of the spacecraft with the cameras and create a program to pass an obstacle, turn the rover, point the camera at the sky, etc.
Mission to Mars workshop during the ESA Open Day in ESAC
It was a very complete activity and the people could participate in the steps of controlling a rover in other place with the scaled model of ExoMars 2020. There were many people at the event and all of them very interested in the activities. We are very happy how the event took place and we expect to repeated soon.
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