Brief Description: This short course is designed for researchers who work on and have interest in mobility on planetary surfaces for exploration, resource utilization, or infrastructure development purposes with emphasis on the Moon. The morning session of the short course is focused on gaining a fundamental understanding of lunar geology, surface processes, regolith mechanics, and wheel-regolith interactions (terramechanics) as these drive all aspects of safe and efficient extraterrestrial mobility. The afternoon session of the short course focuses more on applications and operations using what was learned in the morning session, including the development of autonomous mobility systems and site preparation. Several case studies based on the instructor’s expertise and state-of-the-art work will be discussed.

Short Course Program Schedule (Subject to Change)

8:30 am – 8:45 am Welcome and Short Course Introduction

• Patrick Suermann, PhD, Professor, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

• Jeffrey Bullard, PhD, Professor, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

8:45 am – 9:30 am Lunar and Planetary Geology

• Daniel Britt, PhD, Pegasus Professor, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

9:30 am – 10:15 am Planetary Regolith, Surface Processes, and Simulant Fidelity

• Jared Long-Fox, Planetary Exploration Research Scientist, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

10:15 am – 10:30 am Break

10:30 am – 11:15 am Regolith Mechanics and in situ Geomechanics Instrumentation

• Jared Long-Fox, Planetary Exploration Research Scientist, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

• Robert C. Anderson, PhD, Group Supervisor & Research Scientist, NASA JPL, Pasadena, CA, USA

11:15 am – 12:15 pm Planetary Terramechanics

• Robert P. Mueller, Senior Technologist, NASA, Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, FL, USA

• Jared Long-Fox, Planetary Exploration Research Scientist, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

12:15 pm – 1:15 pm Lunch break

1:15 pm – 2:15 pm Lunar and Planetary Autonomous Mobility Systems

• Frances Zhu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, USA

2:15 pm – 3:15 pm Site Preparation Hardware Development

• Paul van Susante, PhD, Associate Professor, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA

3:15 pm – 3:30 pm Break

3:30 pm – 4:15 pm Planetary Mobility Scenarios and Considerations

• Daniel Britt, PhD, Pegasus Professor, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

4:15 pm – 4:30 pm Concluding Remarks

  Vote of Thanks & Course Closure

• Daniel Britt, PhD, Jared Long-Fox, and Robert P. Mueller (Short Corse Organizers)

• Patrick Suermann, PhD, Professor, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

• Jeffrey Bullard, PhD, Professor, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA