Issues of geologically-focused situational awareness in robotic planetary missions: lessons from an analogue mission at Mistastin Lake impact structure, Labrador, Canada

Remote robotic data provides different information than that obtained from immersion in the field. This significantly affects the geological situational awareness experienced by members of a mission control science team. In order to optimize science return from planetary robotic missions, these limitations must be understood and their effects mitigated to fully leverage the field experience of scientists at mission control. Results from a 13-day analogue deployment at the Mistastin Lake impact structure in Labrador, Canada suggest that scale, relief, geological detail, and time are intertwined issues that impact the mission control science team‟s effectiveness in interpreting the geology of an area. These issues are evaluated and several mitigation options are suggested. Scale was found to be difficult to interpret without the reference of known objects, even when numerical scale data were available. For this reason, embedding intuitive scale-indicating features into image data is recommended. Since relief is not conveyed in 2D images, both 3D data and observations from multiple angles are required. Furthermore, the 3D data must be observed in animation or as anaglyphs, since without such assistance much of the relief information in 3D data is not communicated. Geological detail may also be missed due to the time required to collect, analyze, and request data. We also suggest that these issues can be addressed, in part, by an improved understanding of the operational time costs and benefits of scientific data collection. Robotic activities operate on inherently slow time-scales. This fact needs to be embraced and accommodated. Instead of focusing too quickly on the details of a target of interest, thereby potentially minimizing science return, time should be allocated at first to more broad data collection at that target, including preliminary surveys, multiple observations from various vantage points, and progressively smaller scale of focus. This operational model more closely follows techniques employed by field geologists and is fundamental to the geologic interpretation of an area. Even so, an operational time cost/benefit analyses should be carefully considered in each situation, to determine when such comprehensive data collection would maximize the science return. Finally, it should be recognized that analogue deployments cannot faithfully model the time scales of robotic planetary missions. Analogue missions are limited by the difficulty and expense of fieldwork. Thus, analogue deployments should focus on smaller aspects of robotic missions and test components in a modular way (e.g., dropping communications constraints, limiting mission scope, focusing on a specific problem, spreading the mission over several field seasons, etc.)

A mission control architecture for robotic lunar sample return as field tested in an analogue deployment to the Sudbury impact structure

A Mission Control Architecture is presented for a Robotic Lunar Sample Return Mission which builds upon the experience of the landed missions of the NASA Mars Exploration Program. This architecture consists of four separate processes working in parallel at Mission Control and achieving buy-in for plans sequentially instead of simultaneously from all members of the team. These four processes were: Science Processing, Science Interpretation, Planning and Mission Evaluation. Science Processing was responsible for creating products from data downlinked from the field and is organized by instrument. Science Interpretation was responsible for determining whether or not science goals are being met and what measurements need to be taken to satisfy these goals. The Planning process, responsible for scheduling and sequencing observations, and the Evaluation process that fostered inter-process communications, reporting and documentation assisted these processes. This organization is advantageous for its flexibility as shown by the ability of the structure to produce plans for the rover every two hours, for the rapidity with which Mission Control team members may be trained and for the relatively small size of each individual team. This architecture was tested in an analogue mission to the Sudbury impact structure from June 6-17, 2011. A rover was used which was capable of developing a network of locations that could be revisited using a teach and repeat method. This allowed the science team to process several different outcrops in parallel, downselecting at each stage to ensure that the samples selected for caching were the most representative of the site. Over the course of 10 days, 18 rock samples were collected from 5 different outcrops, 182 individual field activities - such as roving or acquiring an image mosaic or other data product - were completed within 43 command cycles, and the rover travelled over 2,200 m. Data transfer from communications passes were filled to 74%. Sample triage was simulated to allow down-selection to 1kg of material for return to Earth

CIRIR programs: drilling and research opportunities at the Rochechouart Impact Structure

International audienc

Environmental geotechnics: Challenges and opportunities in the post-Covid-19 world

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic not only has created a health crisis across the world but is also expected to impact negatively the global economy and societies at a scale that is maybe larger than that of the 2008 financial crisis. Simultaneously, it has inevitably exerted many negative consequences on the geoenvironment on which human beings depend. The current paper articulates the role of environmental geotechnics in elucidating and mitigating the effects of the current pandemic. It is the belief of all authors that the Covid-19 pandemic presents not only significant challenges but also opportunities for the development of the environmental geotechnics field. This discipline should make full use of geoenvironmental researchers' and engineers' professional skills and expertise to look for development opportunities from this crisis, to highlight the irreplaceable position of the discipline in the global fight against pandemics and to contribute to the health and prosperity of communities, to serve humankind better. In order to reach this goal while taking into account the specificity of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the uncertainty of its environmental effects, it is believed that more emphasis should be placed on the following research directions: pathogen-soil interactions; isolation and remediation technologies for pathogen-contaminated sites; new materials for pathogen-contaminated soil; recycling and safe disposal of medical wastes; quantification of uncertainty in geoenvironmental and epidemiological problems; emerging technologies and adaptation strategies in civil, geotechnical and geoenvironmental infrastructures; pandemic-induced environmental risk management; and modelling of pathogen transport and fate in geoenvironment, among others. Moreover, Covid-19 has made it clear to the environmental geotechnics community the importance of urgent international co-operation and of multidisciplinary research actions that must extend to a broad range of scientific fields, including medical and public health disciplines, in order to meet the complexities posed by the Covid-19 pandemic

Comparison of the bifurcation scenarios predicted by the single-mode and multimode semiconductor laser rate equations

We present a detailed comparison of the bifurcation scenarios predicted by single-mode and multimode semiconductor laser rate equation models under large amplitude injection current modulation. The influence of the gain model on the predicted dynamics is investigated. Calculations of the dependence of the time averaged longitudinal mode intensities on modulation frequency are compared with experiments performed on an AlxGa1-xAs Fabry-Pérot semiconductor laser.K. A. Corbett and M. W. Hamilto

Overview of NASA Finesse (Field Investigations to Enable Solar System Science and Exploration) Science and Exploration Project

NASA's FINESSE (Field Investigations to Enable Solar System Science and Exploration) project was selected as a research team by NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI). SSERVI is a joint Institute supported by NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD). As such, FINESSE is focused on a science and exploration field-based research program to generate strategic knowledge in preparation for human and robotic exploration of other planetary bodies including our Moon, Mars moons Phobos and Deimos, and near-Earth asteroids. FINESSE embodies the philosophy that "science enables exploration and exploration enables science"

The 2016 UK Space Agency Mars Utah Rover Field Investigation (MURFI)

The 2016 Mars Utah Rover Field Investigation (MURFI) was a Mars rover field trial run by the UK Space Agency in association with the Canadian Space Agency's 2015/2016 Mars Sample Return Analogue Deployment mission. MURFI had over 50 participants from 15 different institutions around the UK and abroad. The objectives of MURFI were to develop experience and leadership within the UK in running future rover field trials; to prepare the UK planetary community for involvement in the European Space Agency/Roscosmos ExoMars 2020 rover mission; and to assess how ExoMars operations may differ from previous rover missions. Hence, the wider MURFI trial included a ten-day (or ten-‘sol’) ExoMars rover-like simulation. This comprised an operations team and control centre in the UK, and a rover platform in Utah, equipped with instruments to emulate the ExoMars rovers remote sensing and analytical suite. The operations team operated in ‘blind mode’, where the only available data came from the rover instruments, and daily tactical planning was performed under strict time constraints to simulate real communications windows. The designated science goal of the MURFI ExoMars rover-like simulation was to locate in-situ bedrock, at a site suitable for sub-surface core-sampling, in order to detect signs of ancient life. Prior to “landing”, the only information available to the operations team were Mars-equivalent satellite remote sensing data, which were used for both geologic and hazard (e.g., slopes, loose soil) characterisation of the area. During each sol of the mission, the operations team sent driving instructions and imaging/analysis targeting commands, which were then enacted by the field team and rover-controllers in Utah. During the ten-sol mission, the rover drove over 100 m and obtained hundreds of images and supporting observations, allowing the operations team to build up geologic hypotheses for the local area and select possible drilling locations. On sol 9, the team obtained a subsurface core sample that was then analyzed by the Raman spectrometer. Following the conclusion of the ExoMars-like component of MURFI, the operations and field team came together to evaluate the successes and failures of the mission, and discuss lessons learnt for ExoMars rover and future field trials. Key outcomes relevant to ExoMars rover included a key recognition of the importance of field trials for (i) understanding how to operate the ExoMars rover instruments as a suite, (ii) building an operations planning team that can work well together under strict time-limited pressure, (iii) developing new processes and workflows relevant to the ExoMars rover, (iv) understanding the limits and benefits of satellite mapping and (v) practicing efficient geological interpretation of outcrops and landscapes from rover-based data, by comparing the outcomes of the simulated mission with post-trial, in-situ field observations. In addition, MURFI was perceived by all who participated as a vital learning experience, especially for early and mid-career members of the team, and also demonstrated the UK capability of implementing a large rover field trial. The lessons learnt from MURFI are therefore relevant both to ExoMars rover, and to future rover field trials