Portrait of Lunar Ice Discovery Initiative
Head: William (Red) L. Whittaker
Contact: William (Red) L. Whittaker
Associated Lab: Field Robotics Center (FRC)
Homepage
Last Project Publication Year: 2013

Disambiguation: For the Astrobotic Technology Icebreaker mission please visit this link

The Icebreaker Lunar Ice Discovery Initiative intends to conduct a robotic ground investigation of the southern polar region of the Moon. Searching for water ice and performing geological studies of the lunar south pole that will provide essential information on the presence and distribution of resources necessary to support human habitation and a base for deep-space missions (such as water, fuel and propellant components, and potential construction materials) as well as for fundamental scientific investigation. Icebreaker proposes an academic, commercial and government partnership, to create economical, multi-dimensional missions. to the Moon’s surface.

Icebreaker is a prototype rover to evaluate performance and demonstrate mobility for planetary exploration. Icebreaker is designed to operate on extreme slopes by utilizing plowing, a novel technique to utilize subsurface soil strength. This allows icebreaker to operate at steep angle-of-repose slopes on unconsolidated material with minimal slip.

Displaying 8 Publications
Master's Thesis, Tech. Report, CMU-RI-TR-13-10, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, June, 2013
Conference Paper, Proceedings of 8th International Conference on Field and Service Robotics (FSR '12), pp. 399 - 413, July, 2012
Master's Thesis, Tech. Report, CMU-RI-TR-11-35, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, December, 2011
Conference Paper, Proceedings of 9th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (iSAIRAS '08), February, 2008
Conference Paper, Proceedings of 9th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (iSAIRAS '08), February, 2008
Tech. Report, CMU-RI-TR-07-40, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, April, 2007
Conference Paper, Proceedings of 6th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space (iSAIRAS '01), June, 2001
Conference Paper, Proceedings of 14th SSI Conference on Space Manufacturing, May, 1999