{"id":168,"date":"2026-02-04T00:24:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T05:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stgeorges.bc.ca\/michaelh\/?p=168"},"modified":"2026-02-04T00:34:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T05:34:01","slug":"pep-assignment-2-final-report-callisto-rover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.stgeorges.bc.ca\/michaelh\/uncategorized\/pep-assignment-2-final-report-callisto-rover\/","title":{"rendered":"PEP Assignment 2 \u2013 Final Report: Callisto Rover"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the past several weeks, our group has been working on designing and building a vehicle capable of operating on Callisto, Jupiter’s second-largest moon. In the first blog post, we explored what makes Callisto a compelling destination: its position outside Jupiter’s deadly radiation belts, its stable and ancient terrain, and the possibility of a salty subsurface ocean hidden beneath kilometers of ice. But knowing about a place and actually building something that can work there are two very different challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our definition statement for this project was:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The vehicle must be capable of operating independently on Callisto, a remote, frozen, and airless moon with extreme cold (approximately \u2212139\u00b0C to \u2212190\u00b0C), low gravity (0.126 g), and weak sunlight (roughly 4% of Earth’s). It must generate its own power without relying on solar energy, maintain safe interior temperatures for its crew and components, and reliably traverse rocky, ice-covered terrain over a 5 km round-trip distance.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of our prototype and testing was to validate one of the most critical aspects of this design: whether a tracked vehicle can efficiently navigate rough, uneven terrain similar to what we’d expect on Callisto’s surface.<\/strong> We weren’t able to simulate every condition (vacuum, extreme cold, low gravity), but we focused on the mechanical challenge of traveling on rocky terrains and energy efficiency, which are directly tied to whether this vehicle concept is viable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post walks through our final design, the process of building and testing our prototype, the data we collected, and what it all means for our vehicle’s real-world performance on Callisto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(You can view the initial research and planning in PEP Assignment 1<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Method \/ Procedure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Design Evolution<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Our vehicle went through several design iterations before we settled on the final concept. Early brainstorming included ideas like wheeled rovers, legged walkers, and even hopping vehicles. However, given Callisto’s combination of low gravity, rough cratered terrain, and icy surfaces, we kept coming back to a tracked (tank-tread) design<\/strong> as the most practical option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key reasoning was:<\/p>\n\n\n\n