Key Innovations
What makes our approach different from a standard rover build.
Bottom-mounted solar panels
The panels sit on the underside of the rover. Because the rocker-bogie suspension is flexible, the panels can tilt upward to catch sunlight even when the sun sits low on the horizon — like on the lunar south pole. This is the opposite of where most designs place them, and it works because of how the suspension geometry shifts.
LoRa fallback communication
When the rover moves beyond WiFi range (which happens quickly in field conditions), it automatically falls back to LoRa. This gives astronauts basic command capability up to ~1 km without any manual switching. LoRa is low-power and doesn’t need infrastructure — just a transmitter module and a receiver.
Astronaut-friendly control app
The rover is controlled through a web app designed for people who aren’t engineers. Predefined commands cover common tasks. There’s also an AI-powered interface that can generate control code dynamically — an astronaut describes what they want the rover to do in plain language, and the system writes the command.
Local-only networking
A laptop hosts a LAN that the rover connects to directly. No internet dependency. This matters because HERA simulations don’t have external network access, and real lunar missions obviously won’t either.
Half-tread wheel system
Rather than bare wheels or full tank treads, we use a half-tread design. It gives meaningfully more grip than wheels alone (important on loose regolith) without the weight and complexity penalty of full treads. Each of the 6 wheels is independently motored.
Powered suspension
The suspension isn’t just passive — it actively adjusts the rover’s body position. It can shift to match terrain angles or orient the chassis toward the sun for better solar charging. This dual purpose (terrain adaptation + power optimization) comes from a single mechanical system.