Mars Sample Return Mission -- Space ROS with Curiosity

If you are here to run Curiosity rather than installing it skip the first section and go directly to Running Curiosity in Mars

Installing the Docker

Build and run the dockers:

cd docker/moveit2
./build.sh

cd docker/space_robots
./build.sh
./run.sh

As a result you should be inside the docker container:

spaceros-user@gssilab-Workstation-2:~/demos_ws$ 

Running Curiosity in Mars

This section expects that you are inside the container. If not, go back to Installing the Docker. Inside the docker, we must run: (1). the gazebo simulation, (2). the robot's nodes, (3). run the navigation stack, (4). run them mission using a behavior tree. Note: For every new terminal open, you need to make sure that the ROS is sourced. Here is how to do it:

source /opt/ros/humble/setup.bash
source /opt/spaceros/install/setup.bash
source ~/demos_ws/install/setup.bash

Run Gazebo Simulation

Open a new terminal within the docker. (I've used devcontainers in vscode, you can do it however you want.)

ros2 launch curiosity_gazebo mars_sample_return.launch.py

The Gazebo Simulation should pop-up in the screen. You should not see any errors in the terminal.

Run Curiosity Mars Rover

Open a new terminal within the docker. (I've used devcontainers in vscode, you can do it however you want.)

ros2 launch curiosity_rover_demo mars_rover.launch.py

You should not expect anything different in the simulation, here you are just running a layer of nodes that allow you to better control the rover using /move_forward or /move_stop primitives.

Manually Checking Mars Rover

Open a new terminal within the docker. (I've used devcontainers in vscode, you can do it however you want.)

# Move forward
ros2 service call /move_forward std_srvs/srv/Empty
# Turn left
ros2 service call /turn_left std_srvs/srv/Empty
# Turn right
ros2 service call /turn_right std_srvs/srv/Empty
# Stop
ros2 service call /move_stop std_srvs/srv/Empty

Run Navigation Stack

Open a new terminal within the docker. (I've used devcontainers in vscode, you can do it however you want.)

ros2 run mars_rover_nav mars_rover_nav

Run Mission Using Behavior Trees

Open a new terminal within the docker. (I've used devcontainers in vscode, you can do it however you want.)

ros2 run py_trees_bt_runner bt_runner /home/spaceros-user/demos_ws/src/mission/trees/inspection_mission.xml

Troubleshooting

❗ Error: RMW Implementation Mismatch

When running colcon build, you may encounter the following error:

CMake Error at /opt/spaceros/install/rmw_implementation/share/rmw_implementation/cmake/rmw_implementation-extras.cmake:25 (message): The RMW implementation has been specified as 'rmw_fastrtps_cpp' via get_default_rmw_implementation, but rmw_implementation was built only with support for 'rmw_cyclonedds_cpp'.

✅ Fix

This error occurs when the default RMW (ROS Middleware) implementation is set to rmw_fastrtps_cpp, but the current Space ROS installation only supports rmw_cyclonedds_cpp.

To fix this, set the RMW_IMPLEMENTATION environment variable to match the installed middleware:

source /opt/spaceros/setup.bash
export RMW_IMPLEMENTATION=rmw_cyclonedds_cpp
colcon build