Steven Kay

• MEng Robotics & Cybertronics
• Robotics Engineer at GMV NSL

The Harwell Robotics and Autonomy Facility (HRAF), is a facility funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) to support the integration, verification validation of autonomy systems and associated technologies from unit up to mission level. An essential capability of the HRAF core infrastructure is the provision of software-based simulation and modell...

This document presents the study conducted during the European Moon Rover System Pre-Phase A project, in which we have developed a lunar rover system, with a modular approach , capable of carrying out different missions with different objectives. This includes excavating and transporting over 200kg of regolith, building an astrophysical observatory...

This paper details the architectural design and implementation of a new AI-enabled Computer Vision (AI-CV) Framework developed in ViBEKO activity. The AI-CV Framework combines an AI platform and a Mission Control System (MCS). The AI platform selected was ESA's AInabler infrastructure based on the Kubeflow platform, and ONE-CC was selected as the M...

This document compiles results obtained from the test campaign of the European Moon Rover System (EMRS) project. The test campaign, conducted at the Planetary Exploration Lab of DLR in Wessling, aimed to understand the scope of the EMRS breadboard design, its strengths, and the benefits of the modular design. The discussion of test results is based...

This paper presents GMV's modular approaches for lunar exploration, focusing on the European Moon Rover System (EMRS) and its application to smaller, multitasking missions. Modular designs reduce costs and enhance flexibility by avoiding the need for redesigns for specific tasks. By integrating AI-enabled Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) sys...

This document compiles results obtained from the test campaign of the European Moon Rover System (EMRS) project. The test campaign, conducted at the Planetary Exploration Lab of DLR in Wessling, aimed to understand the scope of the EMRS breadboard design, its strengths, and the benefits of the modular design. The discussion of test results is based...

Previous Mars and Moon rover missions have highlighted a limitation in mobility, with surface rovers traversing only a few tens of meters per day, at speeds in the order of 10 cm/s. This limitation can be primarily attributed to the rover locomotion system from one side, and on the other by the lack/limited on-board autonomous capabilities. To addr...

The European Moon Rover System (EMRS) Pre-Phase A activity is part of the European Exploration Envelope Programme (E3P) that seeks to develop a versatile surface mobility solution for future lunar missions. These missions include: the Polar Explorer (PE), In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), and Astrophysics Lunar Observatory (ALO) and Lunar Geolog...

Trends in the design of space systems shows an increasing level of autonomy as a key design driver to ensure the success of a mission. Consequently, there is a need to develop robust, flexible and modular tools to support the integration, testing and Verification and Validation (V&V) of these autonomy systems. Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE)...

The Harwell Robotic and Autonomy Facility (HRAF) activities funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) aim to provide advanced capabilities to support the development and testing of complex autonomous systems for the exploration of our Solar System. The outcome of one of these activities is a a flexible simulation environment allowing models and rea...

The 2016 Mars Utah Rover Field Investigation (MURFI) was a Mars rover field trial run by the UK Space Agency in association with the Canadian Space Agency's 2015/2016 Mars Sample Return Analogue Deployment mission. MURFI had over 50 participants from 15 different institutions around the UK and abroad. The objectives of MURFI were to develop experie...

Introduction: The Mars Utah Rover Field Investigation " MURFI 2016 " is a Mars Rover field analogue mission run by the UK Space Agency (UKSA) in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). MURFI 2016 took place between 22 October and 13 November 2016 and consisted of a Field team including an instrumented Rover platform, at the field site n...

The remote operations team consisted of 28 scientists and engineers from 10 institutes, including expert scientists and experienced operations engineers. The team in the field was much smaller and consisted of rover platform experts, geologists, instrument engineers and logistics support.