Automated, Real-Time Health Monitoring of Structures for Interplanetary Exploration Systems

Space exploration missions, specifically to Mars, involve complex operations as the search for water and other signs of extant or past life continues. Such missions require advanced robotic systems that are susceptible to structural and mechanical failures and operational faults, which motivates a need for structural health monitoring techniques relevant to interplanetary exploration systems. This paper presents an automated dynamics-based structural health monitoring system using laser Doppler velocimeter sensors, signal filters, and trained neural networks that is formulated for a subsurface interplanetary exploration drill prototype. The developed system presents advanced research accomplishments in the area of real-time structural health monitoring that include rapid-response capabilities of predicting drilling faults and failures before they occur and field demonstrations on an operating drill system.