Integrated analog mission design for planetary exploration with humans and robots

Abstract

For reasons of cost and risk, planetary exploration since Apollo has been carried out by robots with the human input made from Earth. Given communication time delays and the manifest limitations of robots, the pace and quality of such exploration could be greatly improved if humans were more directly involved. Exploration continues using increasingly advanced robotic technologies including those intended to begin the subsurface exploration of the planets. Before such missions will be undertaken we need assurance that these new technologies work adequately under appropriate terrestrial analog conditions. Eventually, humans will re-enter the picture with in-depth exploration of the Moon and Mars as their principal focus. However, such human explorers will not be able to achieve the global reach needed to answer the many questions scientists pursue for a planet as large and diverse as Mars. So, how should humans and robots work together optimally? Can advanced robots tele-operated by humans at short light distances approach the scientific productivity of a trained, yet suit-encumbered, astronaut? To answer these questions, researchers must define scientific return and find ways to compare the productivity of different human–robot exploration systems. Analogs can be used to develop the full range of possible human and robotic exploration systems using metrics that allow us to quantify the effectiveness of each.