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Publikation

LuNiS: Experimental Validation of an AI-Enabled Micro-Rover for Future Lunar Missions with Night Survival Capability

Mehmed Yüksel; Wiebke Brinkmann; Hilmi Dogu Kücüker; Zhongqian Zhao; Jakob Wehnes; Jonas Eisenmenger; Leon Spies; Joel Gützlaff; Markus Czupalla
In: 77th International Astronautical Congress. International Astronautical Congress (IAC-2026), located at Moon Exploration - Part 3, October 5-9, Antalya, Turkey, IAF, 2026.

Zusammenfassung

Micro-rovers represent a promising class of robotic systems for future lunar exploration missions. Such platforms can offer a cost-effective and economically scalable solution that enables reduced mission expenditure. At the same time, they maintain versatile surface-operation capabilities in constrained environments while remaining lightweight and compact. Within the joint research project SAMLER-KI, a Lunar micro rover for Night Survival called LuNiS is under development and can be used for future lunar exploration tasks. The project comprises three rover variants and explores three complementary perspectives addressing the development of a complex micro-rover system: a virtual model, representing LuNiS as a space variant equipped with space-qualified components; the LuNiS Demonstration Model (DM), serving as the terrestrial testbed; and the LuNiS thermal model (TM), a thermal rover designed for environmental testing. The LuNiS-DM, developed by the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), enables the validation of subsystems, software architectures, and artificial intelligence components through a variety of field and laboratory experiments. The LuNiS-TM, developed by FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences, undergoes extensive testing in a thermal vacuum chamber to evaluate the thermal design concept and to validate the underlying thermal modelling and simulations. Insights and results obtained from both rover platforms are fed directly into the design and validation process of the space variant, supporting the optimization of its thermal resilience and operational survivability during the lunar night. This paper presents the design and testing methodologies of DM and TM, and illustrates how their results contribute to the development of the final LuNiS space variant for robust lunar surface operation.

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