Status: Active
Mission Statement
ATHENA’s mission is to sense, locate, and autonomously navigate towards a transmitting radio frequency beacon on terrain to simulate a Martian environment. Additionally, ATHENA will collect environmental data and transmit it to a ground station.
Project Overview
ATHENA is a systems engineering-based rover project developed by the AggieSat Laboratory, designed to autonomously locate and navigate to a transmitting radio beacon while collecting and transmitting critical environmental data. ATHENA simulates planetary surface operations and showcases key capabilities in robotic navigation, autonomous decision-making, and multi-sensor integration. This is achieved through emphasizing rapid development cycles and adaptability in the face of evolving mission requirements. Leveraging a suite of onboard sensors and an internally developed direction-finding algorithm, ATHENA dynamically estimates the beacon’s bearing using radio signal null-pointing techniques. The rover then autonomously rotates and navigates toward the beacon, avoiding obstacles using LiDAR. Once at the target, ATHENA records wind speed and ambient temperature measurements using two separate sensors and transmits the data to a ground station via an onboard LoRA radio.
ATHENA is developed and maintained by five core subteams: Thermal/Mechanical Structures (TMS), Electrical Power Systems (EPS), Command and Data Handling (CDH), Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC), and Communications (COM). Each team collaborates under the guidance of systems engineering principles, with a particular emphasis on agile documentation, modular design, and fast-paced iteration. This enables ATHENA to serve as both a proving ground for rapid prototyping and a scalable platform for future mission architectures.
By pushing the boundaries of the AI&T process, ATHENA equips its members with the tools, mindset, and experience necessary to lead in high-stakes, time-sensitive engineering environments — both in the lab and in their future careers.
Project Conclusion
ATHENA was deployed in an off-road area in the Brazos Valley on April 27th, 2025.