Researchers from Poland, Switzerland and the United States are testing a new concept of using a swarm of autonomous rovers for scientific exploration on Mars.
The tests are taking place in Józefosław near Warsaw, as part of a project in cooperation with NASA.
Researchers and students from the Warsaw University of Technology, and more specifically from the Faculties of Geodesy and Cartography and Electronics and Information Technology, as well as the Faculty of Geography and Geology of the Jagiellonian University, have used nearly 40 tonnes of aggregate to prepare a test field in Józefosław that reproduces aeolian and impact forms found on the Red Planet, according to reports from the Warsaw University of Technology.
The team will verify whether a swarm of autonomous rovers equipped with sensors such as lidar, stereoscopic cameras, GPR, etc. will make it possible, in collaboration with a suitably constructed UAV, to explore Mars. They will also answer questions such as whether a set of autonomous measuring devices will allow the creation of a detailed model of terrain relief and its derivatives, and whether a swarm of rovers will perform scientific exploration of Mars faster and more accurately than the Perseverance and Ingenuity duo currently performing their mission.
ph: Warsaw University of Technology
ph: Warsaw University of Technology
Universities from Basel, Switzerland, and San Jose in the United States are also participating.
The first three-day tests of two rovers, equipped with light detection and ranging sensors, stereoscopic cameras, and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), concluded on Friday.
More tests will be conducted at the Warsaw university’s Center for Geospatial Analysis and Satellite Computing (CENAGIS) in Józefosław, a southern suburb of the Polish capital.
The goal is to determine whether a swarm of smaller autonomous rovers can perform scientific exploration of Mars more efficiently and accurately than large rovers.
The advantage of using a swarm of rovers could be a broader operational range and the ability for the smaller devices to compensate for each other’s functions in case of failure, experts say.
Source:
PAP
