Remote Image Analysis for Mars Exploration Rover Mobility and Manipulation Operations

Abstract

NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers are two six-wheeled, 175-kg robotic vehicles which have operated on Mars for over a year as of March 2005. Each rover is controlled by a team who must understand the rover's surroundings and develop command sequences on a daily basis. The tight tactical planning timeline and ever-changing environment call for tools that allow quick assessment of potential manipulator targets and traverse goals, since command sequences must be developed in a matter of hours after receipt of new data from the rovers. Reachability maps give a visual indication of which targets are reachable by each rover's manipulator, while slope and solar energy maps show the rover operator which terrain areas are safe and unsafe from different standpoints.