Overview

Why a Pressurised Rover?

Mars has a surface area roughly equivalent to that of all the Earth's continents combined. Humans sent to Mars will need to safely travel long distances across its surface for scientific research and resource location — requiring rugged, self-contained, all-terrain vehicles capable of long overland journeys, pressurised living quarters, and years of operation.

Key questions remain largely unresolved: What is an optimal crew size for such a vehicle? How much internal space needs to be pressurised? How small can a vehicle be and still undertake long-distance traverses of 200 km+? What are the optimal exploration strategies?

The Starchaser Marsupial Rover was developed to begin answering these questions through real-world analogue field testing in Australia.

The Starchaser Marsupial Rover during construction.

Background

Mars Society Rover Initiative

In 2000, the international Mars Society Rover Initiative (MSRI) provided three teams with seed funding to commence design and construction of working Mars pressurised rover simulation platforms. Two teams were from North America; the third was Mars Society Australia.

The vehicles were constructed to undertake human-factors research — not required to be custom-engineered structures with exact tolerances and sophisticated life support, but designed to realistically simulate the spatial and operational characteristics of real Mars rovers, with airlocks, work spaces, living quarters, and storage.

Both the Michigan Everest and Canadian Ares rovers were built and trialled in planned, simulated cross-country expeditions. This included comparative field missions in 2003 at the Australian-Canadian Expedition 1 at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, providing the first comparative data on pressurised rover designs.

The Australian analogue rover — the Starchaser Marsupial — was formulated with a longer-term vision: to develop a family of rovers and contribute to the design database for future real Mars rover vehicles.

Marsupial cross-section view showing crew compartments.

The Vehicle Basis

The Marsupial is based on the chassis of a Forward Control (FC) Land Rover — a Series IIA with a distinguished history as a rugged 4WD military truck, emergency ambulance, and expedition transport. The forward-control layout places the cab over the engine, providing interior space equivalent to a much larger conventional vehicle.

The rover is intended to be driveable on public roads, which greatly enhances its useability for field exercises, transport between analogue sites, and public display.

Design Evolution

From Wombat to Marsupial

The rover design has evolved considerably since the project commenced. Three major design iterations have been developed and documented.

Current Final Design Specifications

The current rover design accommodates a standard crew of 2 for non-science exploration sorties, with space for an optional third crew member for science-focused field trips, and an emergency mode for four crew members overnight.

The rear section — containing living and work spaces — is detachable and capable of operating as a portable emergency shelter. In this mode, the rear tray can carry payloads or equipment such as a small crane.

Construction

Project Stages

Construction is separated into three stages, with Stages 2 and 3 running concurrently.

Trax Field Trials

The field trial programme — known as Marsupial Trax — will conduct comparative field tests of the Marsupial rover against the North American designs. Dr Graham Mann's comparative studies from Expedition 1 were published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society; Trax will extend this dataset to the Australian vehicle once construction is complete.

Construction Log

Project News

Selected highlights from the Marsupial construction log (2004–2008). View full archive on the legacy site ↗

Documents & Downloads

Resources

Design & Proposal Documents

Engineering Drawing Set — February 2007 Progress

Academic Record

MSA Publications

The Marsupial project has generated a body of peer-reviewed and conference publications documenting design development and field trial results.

• Mars Society Australia (2000). Project Marsupial Human Operations Prototype (HOP). [See downloads above]
• Hoogland, J. (2000). An entry in the Mars Society's Mars Analog Rover Design Competition (Marsupial-Wombat). [See downloads above]
• Cairns, B., Fenton, A., and Hoffman, N. (2001). "Progress Towards Mars Rover Simulations in the Australian Outback." Abstract, 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston. [See downloads above]
• Mann, G.A. (2002). "Design, Construction, and Operations Plan for the Marsupial Rover." Exploring the Red Planet: Proceedings of the Second Australian Mars Exploration Conference, University of Sydney, July 2002.
• Mann, G.A. and Clarke, J.D.A. (2003). "First comparative field test of pressurised rover prototypes." Abstracts of the 3rd Australian Mars Exploration Conference, Trinity College, Perth, August 2003.
• Mann, G.A., Wood, N.B., Clarke, J.D.A., Piechocinski, S., Bamsey, M. and Laing, J.H. (2004). "Comparative Field Tests of Pressurised Rover Prototypes." AAS 03-319. In Cockell, C. (Ed.), Martian Expedition Planning, AAS Science and Technology Series, Vol 107, Univelt Publishing, pp. 313–327.
• Mann, G.A., Wood, N.B., Clarke, J.D.A., Piechocinski, S., Bamsey, M. and Laing, J.H. (2004). "Comparative Field Tests of Pressurised Rover Prototypes." Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Vol 57, No. 3/4, pp. 135–143.
• Mann, G.A. (2004). "Trials and Tribulations of the Starchaser Marsupial Rover." Proceedings of the 4th Australian Mars Exploration Conference, University of South Australia, July 2004.

Further Reading

Clark, Benton. "Mars Rover." In Carol R. Stoker and Carter Emmart (eds.), Strategies for Mars: A Guide to Human Exploration, Science and Technology Series, 1996, pp. 445–63.

External Resources

Related Projects & Links

Other pressurised rover programmes and related resources from the Mars Society Rover Initiative era.