Regolith Hauler Vehicle
Autonomous Wheeled Regolith Hauler with Dump-Bed
The autonomous wheeled regolith hauler is an 80 kg battery-electric vehicle with a 100 kg capacity dump bed, designed to transport material from excavation sites to a fixed processing hopper over 1 to 2 km cycles. Surface mobility is complicated by 1/6 g gravity, which reduces wheel traction and exacerbates tip-over risks for high-payload chassis, alongside operating temperatures fluctuating between –180 °C and +130 °C. To navigate cohesive lunar regolith without mechanical failure from pervasive dust accumulation, the hauler relies on sealed motor gearboxes and cleated wheels, powered by a 10 kWh battery providing a 20 km operational range at 1.0 m/s.
Autonomous battery-electric wheeled hauler with ~100 kg payload dump bed, transporting regolith between excavation sites (~1 km from plant) and the fixed processing hopper, navigating via L1-NAV with obstacle avoidance from L3-CDH-AUTO.
Purpose
Decouple excavation location from processing location — excavator works at the best ore site, hauler shuttles material to fixed plant, enabling flexible mining at different sites without moving the heavy processing equipment.
Context
Cooperates with L3-ISR-EXC-BWE (loading) and L3-ISR-TRANS-HOP (unloading); coordinates with L3-ISR-CTRL-SCHED for routing. Multi-robot cooperation patterns per Frontiers Robotics 2023 lunar ISRU paper.
Principles
- ▸Battery-electric drive with regenerative braking for 1-2 km traverse cycles
- ▸Tip-over stability: 1/6 g but high-payload-to-vehicle-mass ratio requires careful CoG design
- ▸Wheel design balances traction (cleats), low resistance (smooth surface), and reliability (no flexible parts)
- ▸Autonomous navigation via L1-NAV + onboard LiDAR / stereo cameras
- ▸Multi-robot cooperation: scheduler assigns excavator-hauler pairs, manages queueing at hopper
- ▸Robotic mate connector for power recharge at fixed station
Typical implementations
- ▸NASA RASSOR 2.0 itself functions as hauler (counter-rotating drums double as transport)
- ▸JPL Athlete (All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer) — large payload, complex
- ▸Astrobotic CubeRover and Polaris lunar rovers (commercial)
- ▸VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) — heritage for mobility platform
- ▸Frontiers Robotics 2023 multi-robot lunar ISRU cooperation
- ▸Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) — heritage human-driven, but design lessons apply
- ▸Communications Engineering 2024 — autonomous mining parallel intelligence
Lunar considerations
- ▸Dust accumulation on wheels and motors — sealed bearings, periodic shake cycle
- ▸1/6 g reduces traction force — wheel cleats provide mechanical grip in cohesive regolith
- ▸Battery-electric range limited by energy density — for 100 km/day duty, need ~10 kWh battery
- ▸Thermal cycling drives material selection — wheels and chassis tolerant of –180 to +130 °C
- ▸Long-life motors (BLDC with sealed gearboxes) for ~10,000 km equivalent
- ▸Multi-vehicle fleet for redundancy: typically 4-8 haulers serving 1-2 excavators
Specifications
Functional
| primary function | Autonomous regolith transport between mining site and processing plant |
| inputs | Regolith loaded from L3-ISR-EXC-BWE, Energy from on-board battery (recharged at L3-ISR-TRANS-DOCK), Routing commands from L3-ISR-CTRL-SCHED |
| outputs | Regolith dumped at L3-ISR-TRANS-HOP, Position/state telemetry to L3-ISR-CTRL-PROC, Energy consumption per trip |
| payload capacity kg | 100 |
| max speed m per s | 1.0 |
| operating range km per charge | 20 |
| battery capacity kwh | 10 |
| drive motors | 4 |
| wheel diameter m | 0.4 |
| operating temperature c | -180, 130 |
| design lifetime km | 10000 |
| autonomous navigation | True |
Physical
| mass kg | 80 |
| dimensions | 1.5 × 1.0 × 0.6 m vehicle |
| materials | Aluminum 7075-T6 chassis (lightweight), Titanium 6Al-4V wheel rims, Carbon-fiber-reinforced wheel cleats, BLDC drive motors (sealed gearboxes), Li-ion battery pack (~10 kWh), Stereo cameras + LiDAR for navigation, Robotic-mate charging connector |
| operating temperature c | -180, 130 |
| vacuum compatibility | True |
| ultimate load g | 6 |
Operational
| power consumption w drive | 200 |
| power consumption w idle | 20 |
| thermal range c | -180, 130 |
| lifetime years | 15 |
| mtbf hours | 10000 |
| trips per day typical | 10 |
Interfaces
Provides
- Batch regolith deliveries (~100 kg)
- Position/state/health telemetry
Requires
- Regolith loading
- Battery recharge at fixed station
- Position fix and routing
- Obstacle avoidance + path planning
Cite this entry
Lunar Ark Codex. "Regolith Hauler Vehicle" (L3-ISR-TRANS-VEH). Retrieved 10 September 2026, from https://lunarark.com/entry/L3-ISR-TRANS-VEH
Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0. You may reuse and adapt this entry with attribution, under the same licence.