Power Rover

The Power Rover project is a North Dakota State University (NDSU) undergraduate investigation into the design of a rover that would generate, store, and deliver power to other rovers and equipment on the surface of Mars funded through the NASA X-Hab challenge. X-Hab is a portion of NASA that challenges students to act as a new set of eyes and design engineered solutions that address critical needs of the Artemis program. The goal of this specific project was to design, build, and test an Earth-based prototype of a Martian rover called the Power Rover. The Power Rover is a solar, nuclear, and wind powered tele-operated rover that can generate, store, and deliver power to other rovers or equipment on the Martian surface that are in critical power situations. Due to the large complexity of the project, it was assigned to three senior design groups within the NDSU Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering departments. These groups include an electrical team, power generation and storage team, and structure and drivetrain team. This report will detail the information, findings, final design solutions, and testing that have been made by the NDSU teams during the fall and spring semesters of the 2021-2022 academic school year.