Haughton Mars Project Report Number: HMP-2001-0728

Peter Smith of the University of Arizona teleoperating the “Talon”
robotic rover in “shirt sleeve” (actually cold weather gear!) from a tent
to simulate the teleoperation by a human crew member of a robotic explorer
on a recon mission to a site of scientific interest on Mars.

(Photo by Carol Stoker, NASA Ames Research Center)

The particular study we are implementing this year involves Lt Col
John Blitch’s portable robot rovers (declassified tactical robotic
vehicles from DARPA which possess a high degree of mobility), Peter
Smith’s SSI and RAC cameras (exact engineering duplicates of the SSI
and RAC imagers that were flown to Mars on the Mars Polar Lander),
Carol Stoker’s expertise in human-robot interactions, Larry Lemke’s
Mars airplane mission design experience, the Science Operations team
at NASA Ames, Dr Kelly Snook and ongoing field surveys at Haughton,
and Mission Support in Denver.

The plan for the FMARS crew today was, in chronological order:
a) to move into the Hab and settle quickly
b) to get our comms link up to support a voicemail link
with the Visitor Center at the NASA Kennedy Space Center, an activity
that is part of our education and public outreach efforts
c) to plan the acquisition and actually acquire imaging data, with the
crew teleoperating robots, at sites of potential exploration interest
suggested by Sci Ops team at NASA ARC.

John Blitch’s DARPA “Talon” and “Mite” portable robot rovers strapped
on the back of ATVs for a drive out to “Site 3” for a simulation of
teleoperated robotic exploration.

(Photo by Carol Stoker, NASA Ames Research Center)

Our robotics research program is somewhat tricky to implement in the
context of our current “sim” as the SSI and RAC cameras are not mountable
on any rover at this time (this is not a surprise ; we knew and have
planned for that: Brent Bos, Peter Smith’s graduate student, will move the
cameras around acting as a surrogate rover) but also because John Blitch’s
rovers cannot be teleoperated directly out of the Hab because of radio
interference issues (this is a technical issue that was identified ahead of
time as well but it did not get resolved in time for the field season as
we had hoped). Yet, acquisition of our teleoperated robotic data set is
critical for the execution of the mission of Phase 4.

In order to still survey the ARC sites with John’s rovers and considering
the short duration of this phase, we adopted the following plan for today:
Carol, Peter and John went out in cold weather gear (not simulated
spacesuits) to teleoperate John’s rovers from a small tent set up for that
very purpose a short distance away from the site of interest, a location
designated as “Site 3”. They did so to simulate to the extent possible the
situation of a crew teleoperating robot rovers on Mars in the
“shirt sleeve” environment of their habitat.

The imaging data collected this evening will be analyzed by the crew,
by the Science Ops team at NASA ARC, and by Mission Support over the next
day or so (in combination with other imaging data acquired over the past
days, weeks and months). The Sci Ops team, led by Dr. Jeffrey Moersch of
the University of Tennessee and Dr Michael Sims at NASA Ames Research
Center will then propose a science traverse (an “EVA” in simulated
spacesuits now) to be executed on Monday.

Lt. Col. John Blitch with the small tent that helped isolate Carol and
Peter from seeing “Site 3” directly.

(Captured video frame from the Mite rover under teleoperation by Peter
Smith. John Blitch, DARPA).

The scheme may seem a little elaborate but we think it makes sense
given our constraints. In this instance, we are trying to go through
the full cycle of a possible scenario which includes acquiring local
reconnaissance data sets from teleoperated rovers and aircraft,
analyzing these data sets in light of other previously-acquired robotic
data sets, planning a multi-site science traverse with help from Mission
Support and a Science Operations team, implementating the EVA (including
detailed exploration of the preselected sites and sample collection),
and conducting post-EVA data analysis (including the examination by the
crew of the samples collected), all within a few days.

At 11:30pm, Carol, John and Peter got back to the Hab. They were chilled
to the bones but elated. The teleoperation experiment is a complete
success. Carol and Peter spent the afternoon elbow against elbow in a
small tent and did not ever see Site 3 with their own eyes. They
teleoperated John’s “Talon” rover and selected a particular location within
the Site 3 area where the SSI would later be positioned (by Brent) to have
that high-res instrument acquire a single-filter (red) panoramic stereo
image set and also higher resolution multispectral images of narrower of
specific portions of the scene.

Rock sample grabbed via the manipulator arm on the Talon rover.

(Captured video frame from the Talon rover. John Blitch, DARPA)

With these steps, the evening’s mission was accomplished, as the needed
imaging data set for Site 3 was now “in the can”. But the team did more.
Using Talon’s gripper/grabber, Carol was able first to collect a cobble
sized rock sample from a stream bed. The sample was brought back to the
hab and will be examined tomorrow. Peter then teleoperated the Talon up
the hill at Site 3 and homed in on specific rocks which were later also
imaged in high-res and through the twelve filters of the SSI.

With Site 3 now “fully” surveyed with imaging data from a variety of
sources including this evening’s crew-teleoperated robot rover recons,
the stage is set for some of the key activities to take place over
the next several days. Phase 4 seems off to a good start and the crew is
in good spirits this evening.

The FMARS-2001 Phase 4 crew wishes to dedicate this phase to Isaac Asimov,
a supporter of the human exploration of Mars and a friend of robots.

Pascal and Crew 4.