1. 1st Year Field Campaign:
Life in the Atacama
Science Team Effort,
1st Year Field Campaign:
Striving to Integrate
Biology, Geology,
Autonomous
Exploration
James Dohm,
Kimberly Warren-Rhodes,
Peter Coppin,
Greg Fisher,
Jonathon Foster,
Bob Anderson
NASA AMES
University of Arizona
Carnegie Mellon
JPL
Nathalie Cabrol
Edmon Grin

2. Primary Objective Map the extent of life in the Atacama Desert through
autonomous navigation, which
includes identifying life and smartly
mapping out high probability
localities/environments that
may contain life (sniffing/scouting
out the localities along long traverses
then unfolding the high probability
localities) using integrated
instrument vantages (scalable)
that collectively indicate life.

3. The field test included 5 days of training and remote
reconnaissance, 5 days of the field experiment (5 sols), and 2 days of debriefing and preliminary report preparation.

4. Choosing the Traverse:
Traverse based on:
water/life potentials
(e.g., possible structurally- controlled releases of water/seeps/collapse—hypothesized dissolution cavities related to ground H20)
Map units based from reconnaissance geologic mapping (including interpretation):
Lacustrine (p1,p2,p3: basin/light albedo surface),
Fan (f),
Scalloped terrain (s: desert pavement/ salars),
Volcanic province (to (east-southeast), and
Mountainous
(d: terrain to the west).

5. “Don’t go into the basin, you will kill the rover!”

6. Collectively defining traverse

7. Science Objectives
Locate, characterize, and identify habitats and unambiguously confirm life through field testing the rover Sciencecraft, Hyperion, which has onboard autonomous navigation, as well as high-resolution photographic, spectral, and fluorescence sampling capabilities.
Based on our effort, contribute information to the other team members to improve upon Hyperion’s ability to locate, characterize, and identify habitats and unambiguously confirm life
Collect 10 or more samples

8. Science Objectives (cont.)
Traverse more than 10 km
Properly characterize the geology and potential life-containing habitats, realizing there is a direct linkage
Prepare the Science Team for the upcoming field seasons, which includes developing strategies that optimally integrate Science disciplines to effectively locate, characterize, and identify life-containing habitats through rover exploration (learning year)

10. Preliminary Results Geology
Environments: Tectonically-controlled basin, lacustrine, aeolian, alluvial fans, desert pavement; fluvial?, volcanic?
Winds, moisture (mid-morning to mid afternoon); structurally controlled influences (local and regional)
Materials:
General - conglomeratic/poorly sorted (cobbles, pebbles, fine grained matrix) mantle that blankets precipitates in places; aeolian deposits; desert pavement;
Specific - Fe-bearing soils (all materials had a component of this); precipitate (hydrated sulfates—one positive ID was sample 16 = gypsum); possible hematite or goerthite; rocks possibly coated with desert varnish or caliche (e.g., secondary weathering products (Samples 10,13,14); soils containing possible clay or carbonates (e.g., Sample 7, 10, and 12); in general, hydroxilated materials (Samples 22-27), volcanics (?).
Few reconnaissance-selected sampling sites were reached

11. Biology 3 main types of habitats (saline, desert pavement, soils)
27 samples were acquired; 12 indicated weak or strong chlorophyll signature from the spectral data analysis, and only one showed a strong signature for chlorophyll from spectral data (Sample 3)
Florescence data available to the Science Team for Year 1 could not confirm the unambiguous presence of chlorophyll-based life -- instrument suffered from stray reflected light entering into the camera creating artifacts, however did prove that is was capable of detecting low light levels.
To confirm life, more than one sensor may be needed to confirm a positive (e.g., BOTH spectral results AND fluorescence dye results should be coupled to help confirm life).

12. Climate Elevated moisture from mid morning to mid afternoon
Strong wind regimes evident from field data and geomorphic features (yardang-type features; mantle)
Clouds observed in the pan cam imagery

13. Environmental Irregular topography (tectonic, erosional, depositonal)
Holes and local irregularities (terraces and swales): dissolution of precipitate material; varmints?

14. Science Objectives (cont.)
Traverse more than 10 km
{{not quite, but longest ever autonomously navigated rover science experiment (approximately 2.3 km)}}
Properly characterize the geology and potential life-containing habitats, realizing there is a direct linkage
{{further work is necessary, but made great strides..}}
Identifying life remotely

15. Science Objectives (cont.)
Prepare the Science Team for the upcoming field seasons, which includes developing strategies that optimally integrate Science disciplines to effectively locate, characterize, and identify life-containing habitats through rover exploration
{{made great strides, yet have learned ten-fold}}
Lessons Learned
Sampling (field vs. remote)
Observation (local and out of field of view), Identification, Cataloging, Verification from Field, Retracing steps
{{Need significant improvement}}
Analysis of data (In transit as possible) - Dependent on Smart Sampling
{{Need significant improvement; comparative analysis extremely difficult (e.g., visual vs. spectral vs. fluorescence)}}

16. Lessons Learned (cont.)
For upcoming field seasons – developing, identifying, and refining an approach to optimally integrate Science disciplines with engineering, robotics, and immersive remote experiences to effectively locate, characterize, and identify (harvest) life-containing habitats through rover exploration
The Science team “must” come to an optimal point with other team members to create and effective robot (rover really needs to become reconnaissance biologists/geologists/navigator); queries? Did we drive the rover where we wanted to go? Partly; Did we sample where we wanted to sample? Partly; Did we reach our determined sample destinies (prime sites based on reconnaissance) ; Partly? After 1st learning year, great strides have been made

17. Primary Observations for Next Year
Field/Remote interface (sampling verification, limitations/lines of site, traverse accuracy—remote vs. field; workshops; collective multidiscipline groundtruthing)
Data from different instruments need to register (e.g., fluorescence with spectral to “cofindently detect life) movie information (visible, infrared, etc., coupled with, for example, fluorescence and moisture sensors could flag high probability areas)
Synergism among teams/disciplines (engineering, robotics, biology, geology hydrology, spectroscopy)
Clear objectives

18. Mars Rationale for Effort
Mars has been a dynamic planet (magmatic/tectonic)
Mars is a water-enriched planet with many Earth-like traits
Long-lived environments where magma and water interacts (energy + water = life?)
Hyperion effort forms the building blocks for harvesting the rich information that awaits us

20. “May our synergistic team efforts yield tremendous fruits”