THE STRATEGIC GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO INTEGRATE TERRAIN ANALYSIS AND SCIENCE OPERATIONS TO IMPROVE OPERATIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC OUTCOMES DURING EXPLORATION OF MAFIC DETRITAL ENVIRONMENTS. WITH THIS PROPOSAL WE WILL EVALUATE THE EFFECTIVENESS AND CAPABILITY OF ROVER-BASED SEMI-AUTOMATED TERRAIN ANALYSIS (USING THE AUTOMATED SOIL ASSESSMENT SYSTEM ASAS) AND UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS (UAS) FOR NAVIGATING SELECTING TARGETS FOR SAMPLING AND CHARACTERIZING MAFIC DETRITAL SEDIMENTS ALONG A GLACIO-FLUVIAL-AEOLIAN SAND TRANSPORT PATHWAY IN ICELAND. TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL WE WILL TEST TWO WORKING HYPOTHESES: (1) SCIENCE OPERATIONS HYPOTHESIS: ROVER-BASED SEMI-AUTONOMOUS TERRAIN ANALYSIS FOR PATH AND SAMPLE SELECTION CREATES MORE EFFICIENT AND CAPABLE NAVIGATION AND TARGET SELECTION THAN ROVER-BASED OPTICAL IMAGES ONLY UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM (UAS) IMAGES OR ON-SITE HUMAN INPUT BY REDUCING THE TIME NEEDED TO DETERMINE A PATHWAY AND SAMPLE TARGETS AND BY INCREASING THE QUALITY OF THE NAVIGATION PATHWAYS AND SAMPLE TARGETS. (2) SCIENCE HYPOTHESIS: FOR A GIVEN SEDIMENT SOURCE GEOCHEMICAL AND GRAIN-PROPERTY VARIABILITY ARE COUPLED BY ENVIRONMENT-SPECIFIC (E.G. FLUVIAL VS. AEOLIAN) PHYSICAL FRACTIONATION AND GEOCHEMICAL ALTERATION THAT VARY AS A FUNCTION OF DISTANCE FROM THE SOURCE. WE PROPOSE THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES AND APPROACHES TO TEST OUR TWO HYPOTHESES. SCIENCE OPERATIONS OBJECTIVE 1: EVALUATE THE CAPABILITY AND EFFICIENCY OF ROVER-BASED AUTONOMOUS TERRAIN ANALYSIS AND HUMAN ANALYSIS OF UAS IMAGES FOR ROVER NAVIGATION. SCIENCE OPERATIONS OBJECTIVE 2: EVALUATE THE CAPABILITY AND EFFICIENCY OF ROVER-BASED AUTONOMOUS TERRAIN ANALYSIS AND HUMAN ANALYSIS OF UAS IMAGE FOR SAMPLE TARGET SELECTION AND THEIR EFFECTS ON SAMPLE TARGET QUALITY SCIENCE OBJECTIVE 1: EXAMINE AND DETERMINE CAUSES OF VARIABILITY IN THE GEOCHEMISTRY AND MINERALOGY OF FLUVIAL AND AEOLIAN SEDIMENTS ALONG A TRANSPORT PATHWAY PROXIMAL MEDIAL AND DISTAL FROM A KNOWN SOURCE OF BASALT. SCIENCE OBJECTIVE 2: EXAMINE AND DETERMINE CAUSES OF VARIABILITY IN THE PHYSICAL GRAIN PROPERTIES OF FLUVIAL AND AEOLIAN SEDIMENTS ALONG A TRANSPORT PATHWAY PROXIMAL MEDIAL AND DISTAL FROM A KNOWN SOURCE OF BASALT. TO TEST OUR HYPOTHESES AND ACHIEVE OUR OBJECTIVES WE PROPOSE A 3-YEAR FIELD AND LABORATORY STUDY DURING WHICH WE WILL EXECUTE 2 FIELD SEASONS IN ICELAND IN ENVIRONMENTS WITH TERRAIN AND GEOLOGIC CHARACTERISTICS DIRECTLY ANALOGOUS TO THE BASALTIC DETRITAL ENVIRONMENTS OF MARS. WE WILL USE THE ARGO J-5 ROVER AND A UAS TO TEST 6 OPERATIONAL SCENARIOS WHILE EXAMINING THE PHYSICAL GEOCHEMICAL AND MINERALOGICAL VARIABILITY OF FLUVIAL AND AEOLIAN BASALTIC SEDIMENTS ALONG A SEDIMENT SOURCE PROXIMAL-TO-DISTAL TRANSECT OF TWO GLACIAL OUTWASH SAND PLAINS LAMBAHRAUN AND ASKJA. WE SELECTED THESE SITES BASED ON PREVIOUS PUBLISHED RESEARCH THAT SHOWS LAMBAHRUAN HAS MINERAL-DOMINATED SEDIMENTS AND ASKJA HAS GLASS-DOMINATED SEDIMENTS THEREBY ALLOWING US TO TEST THE VARIABILITY IN TWO DISTINCT MARS-RELEVANT ENVIRONMENTS. OUR FIELD METHODS INCLUDE GRAINSIZE ANALYSIS HANDHELD XRF AND HANDHELD VNIR. WE WILL COLLECT SAMPLES FROM THE FIELD AND ANALYZE THEM IN THE LABORATORY USING PARTICLE SIZE SHAPE AND MICROSCOPIC ANALYSIS SCANNING AND TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY THERMAL INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY X-RAY DIFFRACTION INDUCTIVE COUPLED PLASMA MASS SPECTROMETRY.