Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments (AREE) is a

NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) is a NASA program for development of far reaching, long term advanced concepts by "creating breakthroughs, radically better or entirely new aerospace concepts". The program operated under the name ...

project to design a rover that can operate in the environment of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

, controlled by a wind-powered

mechanical computer A mechanical computer is a computer built from mechanical components such as levers and gears rather than electronic components. The most common examples are adding machines and mechanical counters, which use the turning of gears to increment out ...

. Venus' atmosphere is about 90 times denser than Earth's and the surface temperature of at least , conditions which would prevent a standard electronic computer from operating for any significant period of time. While AREE is being designed for operation on Venus, the rover's design could be re-purposed for use on Mercury, which has a comparably high surface temperature, on Jovian moons

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Clif ...

or Io, where high radiation makes use of traditional electronics difficult, or on lava flows or highly radioactive areas on Earth. The project was first proposed in 2015, and funded by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program with a phase-I study in 2016, and a phase-II study from 2017-2018.Sauder, Jonathan (6 Aug. 2017)
Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments (AREE)
NASA. Editor: Loura Hall. Retrieved 20 Oct. 2019.

Rover design

Though the JPL team initially planned to design an entirely mechanical rover, this was soon deemed to be impractical compared to a hybrid mechanical-electric design. AREE's unique feature is the use of mechanical

analog computer An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computer that uses the continuous variation aspect of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities (''analog signals'') to model the problem being solved. In ...

s instead of electronic

digital computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These program ...

s (as used in other robotic spacecraft), which cannot tolerate the high temperatures of Venus. Instead of using a single general-purpose mechanical computer, like Babbage's

Analytical Engine The Analytical Engine was a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer designed by English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837 as the successor to Babbage's difference engine, which was a desig ...

, the rover would rely on a suite of simpler, single-purpose devices distributed throughout the vehicle, analogous to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

shipboard fire control computers. The rover would also use purely mechanical sensors for some of its instrumentation: temperature, wind speed, barometric pressure, seismic activity, and even chemical composition of samples can be measured mechanically. AREE is to be powered primarily by a Savonius wind turbine. The turbine would directly drive the wheels and also store energy in a

composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...

spring. The rover would also carry high-temperature solar panelsLandis, Geoffrey A.; Haag, Emily (14-17 July 2013)
Analysis of Solar Cell Efficiency for Venus Atmosphere and Surface Missions
11th International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, San Jose, CA. Retrieved 20 Oct. 2019. as a backup and for powering the electric scientific instruments. The most challenging aspect of AREE's design is its communication with Earth. Multiple communication options are being explored, including a high temperature

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

, radar retroreflectors, and inscribing data on phonograph-style records that are then delivered to a high-altitude drone via hydrogen balloon.

Target

AREE's proposed target is near Sekmet Mons. This target was chosen because it is outside the parabolas of impact debris from any of Venus' impact craters, thus allowing the rover to directly study Venus' volcanic geology. AREE would travel northwest from its landing zone, crossing (and sampling) several lava flows. The proposed landing site is also located near a

Tessera A tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive ''tessella'') is an individual tile, usually formed in the shape of a square, used in creating a mosaic. It is also known as an abaciscus or abaculus. Historical tesserae The oldest known tesserae ...

region, raising the possibility that the rover's mission could end with it exploring the Tessera.

References

{{Venus spacecraft Venus Missions to Venus Proposed space probes NASA programs