FIELD INTEGRATION AND SOFTWARE AUTOMATION FOR ROBOTIC SAMPLE ACQUISITION SYSTEMS FOR PLANETARY MISSIONSARADS A PSTAR GRANT PROPOSES A MARS ROVER ANALOG MISSION AS A FIELD TEST OF AN INTEGRATED ROVER-DRILL SYSTEM WITH PROTOTYPE INSTRUMENTS THAT ARE FLIGHT MISSION CANDIDATES.DEPTH AND SAMPLE VOLUME REQUIREMENTS FOR SCIENTIFIC SAMPLE ACQUISITION IMPOSE THE NEEDFOR A MARS DRILL CAPABLE OF PENETRATING DEPTHS OF AMETER OR GREATER. OBSERVING THE OPERATION OF THEROVER/DRILLING SYSTEM IN A HIGH FIDELITY ENVIRONMENTILLUMINATE THE DIFFICULT ISSUES OF LOW-GRAVITY DRILLINGINTO AN UNKNOWN SUBSTRATE DRILL SITE SENSING ANDSELECTION AND DRILL SYSTEM EMPLACEMENT AND STABILIZATION.

Kiss Institute For Practical Robotics

Investigators