Remote Science Operations With a Robotic Mars-prototype Drilling Platform

Paper number

IAC-06-A5.P.05

Author

Mrs. Sarah Huffman, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Ames Research Center, United States

Coauthor

Dr. Brian Glass, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Ames Research Center, United States

Coauthor

Dr. Carol Stoker, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Ames Research Center, United States

Coauthor

Ms. Jennifer Jasper, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Ames Research Center, United States

Coauthor

Ms. Sandra Dashora, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Ames Research Center, United States

Year

2006

Abstract

In field tests in late 2005, the Mars Analog Research and Technology Experiment (MARTE) Project Remote Operations Subsystem provided the communications between its Science Operations Centers in the US and Spain and the autonomous equipment that handled drilling and processing of core samples at the borehole in Rio Tinto, Spain. It was set up to simulate the drilling science operations of a Mars mission, so the amount and types of contact were limited, and the timing of requests and data acquisition did not allow for short-term changes in plans. 

The remote operations subsystem had three theaters of operation. The first theater was the borehole. The remote operations subsystem provided the computing hardware and software that allowed remote operational control of the equipment at the borehole. The second theater was the Mission Operations Center, which relayed information between the other two theaters. The third theater was the pair of Science Operations Centers. The Science Operations Centers received data from the Missions Operations Center for scientific analysis. The science teams at these centers made decisions about drill rate, subsampling, core disposal, and BoreHole Inspection System insertion. These decisions were sent to the Mission Operations Center, which then relayed the directives to the borehole equipment. The Science Centers analyzed the data that they received and used it to characterize the shallow subsurface biosphere at the Rio Tinto drill site.

This communication structure allowed the scientists to request certain tasks of the robotic drill equipment and instruments, obtaining the resulting data by sending requests to the Mission Operations team, who packaged and transmitted these requests to the spacecraft-mock-up-platform’s executive software. The science teams had no direct control of or access to the vehicle or its instruments themselves. The scientists were limited by twice-daily (DSN-like) timing constraints and this limited their command opportunities, so they had to focus on mid to long-term objectives. It also forced them to focus on the limited data they had and do more in-depth analysis of that.

In a month of remote science testing, local automated rock core processing allowed the science team to focus on the resulting science data and results, rather than on the operations of the instruments themselves. This changed their focus and put pressure on them to use the analytical tools and data they had at hand -- rather than waiting for more data.

Abstract document

IAC-06-A5.P.05.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-06-A5.P.05.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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