Project Overview

NASA will return to the moon by 2024 using the Orion spacecraft. In the case of an emergency, Orion crewmembers will exit the vehicle on a life raft. The Surface Autonomous Vehicle for Emergency Rescue (SAVER) vehicle is a portable autonomous watercraft capable of aiding astronauts stranded at sea by an unplanned spacecraft egress. The SAVER shall be able to locate and deliver supplies to isolated astronauts, allowing search and rescue efforts to cover a larger area than otherwise possible, while allowing human rescue workers to tend to injured astronauts already located. The SAVER will be deployed via being dropped into maritime environments, and autonomously home in on distress beacons before gently approaching stranded astronauts as not to harm them. No current prototype of this device exists; current search-and-rescue efforts are entirely manned, limiting the area that can be covered. The SAVER craft will expand the area that can be covered in search-and-rescue operations.

• Current Search and Rescue Operations.
  

This project’s goals are to design a prototype SAVER vehicle that can be deployed via a 10-15 foot drop into a maritime environment, locate stranded astronauts via a distress beacon, travel in the most direct path to the astronauts, and deliver supplies to them. Various programming mission profiles will be developed to guide the SAVER through specific rescue scenarios. Design documentation will be compiled during the course of this project, including detailed schematics, technical papers, and demonstration videos. The final result shall be a functional prototype that can be demonstrated to NASA and serve as the basis for future SAVER manufacturing. This prototype must adhere to the size and payload limits set in place by the mission requirements. Finally, the SAVER must utilize existing equipment to detect the 121.5 MHz homing signal.

Project Summary Video: