ExoMars rover samples Mars terrain

 

The autonomous system developed for the ExoMars rovers have displayed the independence needed to analyse the Martian terrain and identify the best spots to drill for samples.

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The European Space Agency’s (ESA) rover will be able to analyse the environment and drill for samples without human intervention.
 
It therefore could treble the speed in which the rover can carry out its mission compared to previous Mars rovers.
 
In simulations, now being backed up by laboratory tests in the ‘Mars Yard’ at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, the rover first builds a 3D model of its surroundings and then analyses each rock for surfaces suitable for drilling.
 
The rover can then calculate the adjustments needed to position its chassis, robotic arm and instruments to acquire the sample.
 
Dr Dave Barnes, who is presenting results today at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam, Germany, said: “This system allows the rover to do more than find nice flat areas to drill. The versatility of our system and its ability to pinpoint the best site to take samples, even from complex micro-features on rocks, could be vital when looking for evidence of exobiology.”
 
In recent Mars missions, up to 40 per cent of operations time has been taken up with defining, planning, rehearsing, scheduling and uploading every move that the rover makes on the surface of Mars.
 
For NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers, three Martian days can elapse between a target being identified and the rover actually acquiring the sample.
 
The autonomous systems developed by the Aberystwyth team should bring that time for ExoMars down to less than one Martian day.

Developing the software

Software developed by the team, who worked with EADS Astrium on the Phase A study for ExoMars, uses stereo images to build up a digital elevation model and to classify features into six categories: peaks, ridges, passes, planes, channels and pits.
 
The level of detail for each feature can be varied by adjusting the number or data points, the slope and the minimum curvature for the model.
 
The rover selects a suitable surface, then ‘tags’ the optimum drilling point and calculates how to move the instruments at the end of its robotic arm into position.
 
Dr Barnes said: “We are now starting an exciting experimental phase of study with our Concept-E rover chassis model, which has six wheels that can drive, turn and move up and down independently. This gives us eighteen degrees of freedom when adjusting the pitch, roll and yaw of the chassis.
 
“We are working on a unified control system for the chassis and the robotic arm, which itself has four degrees of freedom, so the rover can manoeuvre itself to access samples even in hard to reach places.
 
“This puts us at a new level of manoeuvrability compared to Mars-landers that have flown to date,” he added.
 
The Concept-E rover will be operated on the newly completed Planetary Analogue Terrain (PAT) at Aberystwyth, a 50 metre squared sculpted landscape, complete with a drilling pit, covered with soil and rocks that have been selected for their Mars-like properties.
 
Dr Barnes said: “The majority of our work to date has been in simulation but there is no substitute for experiments with real hardware. We are looking forward to repeating our experiments with a real rover and instruments in our new PAT laboratory.”
 

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