NASA Ames Research Center Maria Bualat Intelligent Robotics Group Maria.Bualat@nasa.gov
Outline Site Survey Overview GPR Survey Hydrogen Prospecting 2
Human-Robot Site Survey Project Systematic survey Civil engineering survey, geophysical study, resource prospecting, etc. Systematic, detailed coverage (necessary to ground-truth remote sensing) Unproductive for crew to perform manually (repetitive, tedious, time-consuming) Source: T. Fong, M. Deans, et al., 2007. Simulated Lunar Robotic Survey at Terrestrial Analog Sites (Proc. LPSC) 3
Outline Site Survey Overview GPR Survey Hydrogen Prospecting 4
Haughton Crater Field Test 10 July 3 August 2007 Two ARC K10 planetary rovers with survey instruments 3D scanning lidar for topographic mapping Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) for resource prospecting Test robotic survey systems and operational procedures Multiple lunar analog sites at Haughton Crater (Canada) Haughton Crater (Devon Island, Canada) K10 rover 5
Haughton Crater: A Lunar Analog Shackleton Crater at the South Pole of the Moon is 19 km in diameter and might present H 2 O ice in surrounding shadowed zones. It is a prime candidate site for human exploration. Haughton Crater, also ~ 20 km in size, is by far the best preserved impact structure of its class on Earth and is located in a H 2 O ground ice rich rocky desert. Haughton may be the best. overall scientific and operational analog for lunar craters such as Shackleton. Shackleton Crater, 19km dia. (lunar South Pole) 2005 Arecibo radar image Haughton Crater, 20km dia. (Devon Island, Canada) radar image 6
Survey Equipment K10 rover (3rd generation) 4-wheel drive, 4-wheel steer Split rocker chassis Size: 1.3 x 0.9 x 1.0 m (HxWxL) with sensor mast Speed: 0.9 m/s (on 10 deg slope) Power: 1900 W (Li-ion batteries) Weight: 100 kg (including 25 kg payload) dgps, stereo cameras, compass, 2D laser scanner Optech ILRIS-3D (topographic mapping) Scanning 3D lidar with 40 deg FOV Range: 3 to 1,500 m Range accuracy: 7 mm @ 100 m JPL CRUX GPR (subsurface mapping) Ground-penetrating radar 800 MHz center frequency 15 cm resolution to 5 m depth 7
GPR Survey Displays GPR data (vertical) transect lines 1x1 meter grid 8
Drill Hill Survey 700 m Survey plan K10 robot on-site for 3 days HMMWV simulates pressurized rover (temporary habitat) Resource prospecting: subsurface ground-penetrating radar scans (parallel transects with 50 m spacing) 9
Drill Hill Survey (23-27 July 2007) Survey plan (green, parallel transects with 50 m spacing) Survey boundary (blue) K10 path (black) K10 robot path (real-time display on Google Earth) 10
Discovery Video - K10s at Haughton 11
Lessons Learned Operations Dense coverage requires long distance driving Continuous navigation is a key enabler for long-duration, longdistance driving Instrument constraints have a huge impact on systems operations Visualization tools Essential for rapid contingency handling & high duty-cycle Provide awareness of robot status & perception Unified science & robot data facilitates situational awareness 12
Outline Site Survey Overview GPR Survey Hydrogen Prospecting 13
HYDRA Field Test 19-20 September 2007 K10 rover with integrated HYDRA tested at ARC Demonstrate utility of HYDRA NS in a robotic prospecting task for near-surface hydrogenous deposits. Objectives: Acquire HYDRA data as rover navigates grid of GPS way-points chosen without prior knowledge of the target locations Detect and localize near-surface enhanced hydrogen deposits within the rover test area Validate site-survey architecture and visualization tools in a test with scientists in the loop 14
ARC Test Site 252 Cf neutron source 15
Visualization Tool 16
Phase I: Site Characterization Traverse N 17
Phase I: Site Characterization Traverse Epithermal Neutrons N 18
Phase I: Site Characterization Traverse Thermalized Neutrons N 19
Phase II: Interesting Locations Return to hot or cold spots Focus on characterizing extent of deposit 20
All Traverses Added Together 21
All Traverses Added Together Epithermal Neutron Map 22
All Traverses Added Together Thermal Neutron Map 23
All Traverses Added Together Beach Sand Thermal Neutron Map Gypsum Polyethylene ice 24
GoogleEarth View of Site Old satellite imagery Low thermal neutron return associated with darker toned materials Geochemical analysis of samples: darker has higher Fe 2 O 3. All materials have ~10 wt% water-equivalent hydrogen. 25
HYDRA Test Summary Test site soils more like Mars than Moon! High Fe 2 O 3 : 5-8 wt%, absorbs thermals H 2 O: ~10 wt%, clays plus moisture Detected, located shallow ice proxies But test site soil H 2 O obscured deeper deposits Better lunar analog test site needed Dry material, no hydrous minerals, lower FeO 26
Conclusion Key Points Systematic survey is one task that should be performed by robots Robotic surveying is realistic & achievable (TRL 5) Unproductive for crew to have to perform manually Intermittent control is sufficient for IVA & ground operations Mission performance can be increased by off-loading utility tasks (routine, tedious, repetitive) to robots 27
Intelligent Robotics Group Intelligent Systems Division NASA Ames Research Center irg.arc.nasa.gov Copyright 2009