Two NASA
robots are surveying a rocky, isolated polar desert within a crater in the
Arctic Circle. The study will help scientists learn how robots could
evaluate potential outposts on the moon or Mars.
The robots, K10 Black and K10 Red, carry 3-D laser scanners and ground-
penetrating radar. The team arrived at Haughton Crater at Devon Island,
Canada, on July 12 and will operate the machines until July 31. Scientists
chose the polar region because of the extreme environmental conditions,
lack of infrastructure and resources, and geologic features. Additionally,
Haughton Crater is geographically similar to Shackleton Crater at the South
Pole of the moon. Both are impact craters that measure roughly 12.4 miles
in diameter.
"We are learning about the awesome potential of human and robot teams,"
said S. Pete Worden, director of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett
Field, Calif., where the group conducting the survey is based. "Studying
how humans and robots can maximize scientific returns in sites such as
Devon Island will prepare us to walk on the moon and Mars."
NASA is planning to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020. Prior to
establishing a lunar outpost, the agency must conduct detailed surveys at a
variety of locations to produce maps, look for minerals and water, and
learn other details. NASA plans to accomplish its surveys with an automated
orbiting spacecraft, not a robotic lander, but the agency still has a keen
interest in advancing the laser scanning technology.
Most of the lunar sites are on harsh terrain and in permanently
shadowed areas. It is not unusual for site surveys to require thousands of
measurements and hundreds of hours to complete. A robot can reduce mission
cost and improve mission effectiveness by allowing ground control to
conduct surveying tasks.
"A typical scenario involves multiple rovers autonomously surveying a
region while humans supervise and assess data from a remote location," said
Terry Fong, director of the Intelligent Robots Group at Ames.
The robots are using different techniques than the goal-directed
traverses and isolated sampling tasks that Mars scientific rovers have used
to explore the Red Planet. K10 Black and K10 Red are using a mix of
information previously obtained by aerial and satellite imaging and data
that the robot survey team is gathering.
The 3-D laser scanner can map topographic features as far as 3,280 feet
away. The ground-penetrating radar, which NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena, Calif., developed, can map below ground as deep as 16.4 feet.
"The robots are covering the area in lawnmower-like paths at human
walking speeds to systematically map above and below ground," said Fong.
The practice survey in Haughton Crater is taking place at an area
called Drill Hill. The robots are covering approximately 120 acres of
terrain. Researchers are commanding the robots remotely from the
Haughton-Mars base camp more than two miles away from Drill Hill.
The robots navigate using the Global Positioning System, stereo
cameras, laser scanners and sun trackers. Each of the four-wheel-drive
machines weighs 165 pounds and can carry a payload up to 110 pounds.
A key objective of the Drill Hill survey is to test the instruments and
software on the robots as well as the equipment and software that humans
will use at lunar outposts and ground control to supervise the robots.
Engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston will assess advanced
robot driving techniques using a multi-screen cockpit. Ames will test
software that makes high-resolution maps for interactive display in 3-D.
NASA's Exploration Technology Development Program sponsors the robotic
site survey at Haughton Crater.
Source: NASA
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