Introduction -- Planetary environments -- Survey of past rover missions -- Rover mobility and locomotion -- Rover sensorimotor control systems -- Rover vision�fundamentals -- Rover vision�advanced capabilities -- Autonomous navigation�behaviors and architectures -- Autonomous navigation�self-localization and mapping (SLAM) -- Rover path planning -- Robotic sample acquisition -- Onboard autonomous science -- Case study: Robotic exploration of Europa -- Future rover concepts. .

The increasing adoption of terrain mobility � planetary rovers � for the investigation of planetary surfaces emphasises their central importance in space exploration. This imposes a completely new set of technologies and methodologies to the design of such spacecraft � and planetary rovers are indeed, first and foremost, spacecraft. This introduces vehicle engineering, mechatronics, robotics, artificial intelligence and associated technologies to the spacecraft engineer�s repertoire of skills. Planetary Rovers is the only book that comprehensively covers these aspects of planetary rover engineering and more. The book: � discusses relevant planetary environments to rover missions, stressing the Moon and Mars; � includes a brief survey of previous rover missions; � covers rover mobility, traction and control systems; � stresses the importance of robotic vision in rovers for both navigation and science; � comprehensively covers autonomous navigation, path planning and multi-rover formations on other planets; � introduces sample acquisition and autonomous science � with an emphasis on astrobiology � as the raison d�être of rover missions; � presents a special case study on the exploration of Europa; � discusses future rover concepts, including a brief exploration of the role of biomimetics.