The mission concepts described in this document are pre-decisional and are provide for planning and discussion only. 1
IntroductionRobotic in situ mobility systems enable science by providing wide-ranging access to planetary surfaces and subsurface voids (pits, caves, and crevasses), while robotic instrument deployment and sampling systems enable science operations in diverse, poorly known conditions with very limited communication with Earth. The past decade saw major progress in surface rover capability, breakthroughs in rotary-wing aerial mobility, promising innovations in variablealtitude balloon technology, a viable mission concept to descend a pit on the Moon, and many innovations in sampling systems. This white paper synthesizes a cross-cutting view of how recent progress in robotics can contribute to missions in the 2023-2032 decade and where further key technology development can impact the 2033-2042 decade, with cross-references to science white papers (WP) and Planetary Mission Concept Studies (PMCS) that motivate the robotics capabilities. The discussion is organized in subtopics covering surface mobility, subsurface void mobility, aerial mobility, instrument placement and sampling, and cross-cutting component technologies. Several closely related or complementary topics are covered in other white papers, including advanced EDL, system-level autonomy, and deep subsurface access [Carson WP, Day WP, Edwards WP, Schmidt WP].
Significant cross-cutting benefits exist in promising new robotics technologies that can enable or enhance mission concepts for very long range rovers for the Moon and Mars, rovers for high latitudes on the Moon and Mars, descending pits and crevasses on the Moon, Mars, and Enceladus, and variable altitude balloons and rotary wing aerial mobility for Venus, Mars, and Titan. Needs and promising solutions exist for robot arms that do not require preheating, rock and ice penetration and analysis on the Moon, Mars, and Ocean Worlds, science operations with much less ground-in-the-loop interaction, and avionics miniaturization, performance enhancement, and cost reduction. Funding for maturation of cross-cutting robotics technology is needed to maximize these benefits.