THIS PROPOSAL WILL EXAMINE THE SYSTEM INTEGRATION ISSUES FOR A DISTRIBUTED COLONY OF INSECT-LIKE ROBOTS. PHASE 1 FOCUSES ON SCOPING THE ISSUES AND TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE BREADTH OF EXPERTISE IN OUR TEAM: WE HAVE SYSTEMS PEOPLE PLANETARY EXPERTS AND ROBOTICISTS. TO BEGIN WE LOOKED AT THE BASIC FIRST GENERATION CRICKET INSTRUMENTS: A THERMAL CONDUCTANCE PROBE IN THE PROBOSCIS ELECTRICAL CONDUCTANCE FEELERS MEMS SWIR AND FUV REFLECTANCE SPECTROGRAPHS ARE ALL WITHIN REACH AND CONFIRM DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE PRESENCE OF H2O. AUTONOMY IN DRONES HAS BEEN WELL RESEARCHED AND WILL ENABLE THE VERY SIMPLE AVOID/SEEK LIGHT STRATEGY FOR EXPLORING THE SURFACE. LOCATION OF THE CRICKETS IS A SECOND-ORDER REQUIREMENT BUT IS READILY ACHIEVED AND HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED ON EARTH; DETECTION LOCATION AND COMMUNICATION ELEMENTS ARE ALL READY. ISRU PROJECTS ARE WIDELY SUPPORTED WITHIN NASA AND THE BASIC CONCEPTS AND SYSTEM LEVEL REQUIREMENTS ARE UNDERSTOOD. THOSE REQUIREMENTS ARE INCORPORATED INTO THE ARCHITECTURE RATHER THAN THE DETAILS OF ISRU TECHNOLOGY (THAT IS OUT OF SCOPE OF OUR WORK).