SSERVI Annual Report: Year 4

The SSERVI Central Office forms the organizational, administrative and collaborative hub for the domestic and international teams, and is responsible for advocacy and ensuring the long-term health and relevance of the Institute. SSERVI has increased the cross-talk between NASAs space and human exploration programs, which is one of our primary goals. We bring multidisciplinary teams together to address fundamental and strategic questions pertinent to future human space exploration, and the results from that research are the primary products of the institute. The team and international partnership reports contain summaries of 2017 research accomplishments. Here we present the 2017 accomplishments by the SSERVI Central Office that focus on: 1) Supporting Our Teams, 2) Community Building, 3) Managing the Solar System Treks Portal (SSTP), and 4) Public Engagement

Geological analysis of Martian rover-derived digital outcrop models using the 3D visualisation tool, Planetary Robotics 3D Viewer – PRo3D

Panoramic camera systems on robots exploring the surface of Mars are used to collect images of terrain and rock outcrops which they encounter along their traverse. Image mosaics from these cameras are essential in mapping the surface geology and selecting locations for analysis by other instruments on the rover’s payload. 2D images do not truly portray the depth of field of features within an image, nor their 3D geometry. This paper describes a new 3D visualization software tool for geological analysis of Martian rover-derived Digital Outcrop Models (DOMs) created using photogrammetric processing of stereo-images using the Planetary Robotics Vision Processing (ProViP) tool developed for 3D vision processing of ExoMars PanCam and Mars 2020 Mastcam-Z data. DOMs are rendered in real time in the Planetary Robotics 3D Viewer PRo3D, allowing scientists to roam outcrops as in a terrestrial field campaign. Digitisation of point, line and polyline features is used for measuring the physical dimensions of geological features, and communicating interpretations. Dip and strike of bedding and fractures is measured by digitising a polyline along the contact or fracture trace, through which a best fit plane is plotted. The attitude of this plane is calculated in the software. Here, we apply these tools to analysis of sedimentary rock outcrops and quantification of the geometry of fracture systems encountered by the science teams of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity and Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity. We show the benefits PRo3D allows for visualisation and collection of geological interpretations and analyses from rover-derived stereo-images

Reports of accomplishments of planetology programs, 1975 - 1976

Abstracts of reports which summarize work conducted by Planetology Program Principal Investigators are presented. Full reports of selected abstracts were presented to the annual meeting of Planetology Program Principal Investigators at the Center for Astrogeology, U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona, March 8, 9, 19, 1976

The Second Conference on Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century, volume 1

These papers comprise a peer-review selection of presentations by authors from NASA, LPI industry, and academia at the Second Conference (April 1988) on Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century, sponsored by the NASA Office of Exploration and the Lunar Planetary Institute. These papers go into more technical depth than did those published from the first NASA-sponsored symposium on the topic, held in 1984. Session topics covered by this volume include (1) design and operation of transportation systems to, in orbit around, and on the Moon, (2) lunar base site selection, (3) design, architecture, construction, and operation of lunar bases and human habitats, and (4) lunar-based scientific research and experimentation in astronomy, exobiology, and lunar geology

Reports of Planetary Geology and Geophysics Program, 1990

Abstracts of reports from NASA's Planetary Geology and Geophysics Program are presented. Research is documented in summary form of the work conducted. Each report reflects significant accomplishments within the area of the author's funded grant or contract

Characterization of Impactite Clay Minerals with Implications for Mars Geologic Context and Mars Sample Return

Geological processes, including impact cratering, are fundamental throughout rocky bodies in the solar system. Studies of terrestrial impact structures, like the Ries impact structure, Germany, have informed on impact cratering processes – e.g., early hot, hydrous degassing, autometamorphism, and recrystallization/devitrification of impact glass – and products – e.g., impact melt rocks and breccias comprised of clay minerals. Yet, clay minerals of authigenic impact origin remain understudied and their formation processes poorly-understood. This thesis details the characterization of impact-generated clay minerals at Ries, showing that compositionally diverse, abundant Al/Fe/Mg smectite clays formed through these processes in thin melt-bearing breccia deposits of the ejecta, as well as at depth. The inherent complexity of smectites – their formation, type, structure, and composition – makes their provenance difficult to discern; these factors may explain why impact-generated and altered materials, which comprise an appreciable volume and extent of Mars’ ancient Noachian crust, are not generally recognized as a source of the enigmatic clays that are ubiquitous in those regions. Clay minerals can provide a defining window into a planet’s geologic and climatic past as an indicator of water availability and geochemistry; the presence of clay minerals on Mars has been used to support the hypothesis of climatically “warm, wet” ancient conditions. Yet, climate modeling of Early Mars suggests that the likely nature of the climate was not conducive to long-term aqueous activity. We suggest that the omission of impact-generated materials in current models of Mars clay mineral formation leaves a fundamental gap in our understanding of Noachian crustal materials – materials that were continually recycled and completely transformed on a global scale over millennia on Mars. The opportunity to investigate clay-bearing impactites and strata-bound clay minerals will be presented to the upcoming NASA Mars 2020 and ESA ExoMars rovers; this thesis offers caution in assigning clay mineral provenance until samples are returned to Earth from these missions. We furthermore suggest a methodological approach to augment current rover-based exploration frameworks to characterize potential impact-origin. Discerning clay species and provenance – and acknowledging the implications of that provenance – is central to understanding the geologic context of Mars, and thus its past climatic conditions and habitability potential

Virtual Reality

At present, the virtual reality has impact on information organization and management and even changes design principle of information systems, which will make it adapt to application requirements. The book aims to provide a broader perspective of virtual reality on development and application. First part of the book is named as "virtual reality visualization and vision" and includes new developments in virtual reality visualization of 3D scenarios, virtual reality and vision, high fidelity immersive virtual reality included tracking, rendering and display subsystems. The second part named as "virtual reality in robot technology" brings forth applications of virtual reality in remote rehabilitation robot-based rehabilitation evaluation method and multi-legged robot adaptive walking in unstructured terrains. The third part, named as "industrial and construction applications" is about the product design, space industry, building information modeling, construction and maintenance by virtual reality, and so on. And the last part, which is named as "culture and life of human" describes applications of culture life and multimedia-technology

"Seeing Like A Rover": Images In Interaction On The Mars Exploration Rover Mission

This dissertation analyzes the use of images on the Mars Exploration Rover mission to both conduct scientific investigations of Mars and plan robotic operations on its surface. Drawing upon three years of fieldwork with the Mars Rover team including ethnography, participant observation, and interviews, the dissertation contributes to the literature in Science and Technology Studies by advancing the analytical framework of drawing as: a practical corollary to Wittgenstein and Hanson's concepts of seeing as that allows the analyst to explore the work of producing scientific images that draw natural objects as analytical objects to enable future representations and interactions. Further, images of Mars betray the social organization of the mission team and its commitment to consensus operations. Observing how images of Mars are drawn as trustworthy documents, drawn as a hypothesis or as a record of collective agreement, drawn as a map for the Rover and drawn as a public space, the disertation demonstrates how interactions with and around Mars Rover images support this political orientation, making the Rover's body a body politic