Special Issue: Special Issue on Space Robotics, Part II Mark Woods, Andy Shaw, Dave Barnes, Dave Price, Derek Long, Derek Pullan, Autonomous science for an ExoMars Rover-like mission, Journal of Field Robotics, Volume 26 Issue 4 (April 2009), pp 358-390. Sponsorship: STFCIn common with other Mars exploration missions, human supervision of Europe's ExoMars Rover will be mostly indirect via orbital relay spacecraft and thus far from immediate. The gap between issuing commands and witnessing the results of the consequent rover actions will typically be on the order of several hours or even sols. In addition, it will not be possible to observe the external environment at the time of action execution. This lengthens the time required to carry out scientific exploration and limits the mission's ability to respond quickly to favorable science events. To increase potential science return for such missions, it will be necessary to deploy autonomous systems that include science target selection and active data acquisition. In this work, we have developed and integrated technologies that we explored in previous studies and used the resulting test bed to demonstrate an autonomous, opportunistic science concept on a representative robotic platform. In addition to progressing the system design approach and individual autonomy components, we have introduced a methodology for autonomous science assessment based on terrestrial field science practice.Peer reviewe

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Barnes, D. et al, The ExoMars rover and Pasteur payload Phase A study: an approach to experimental astrobiology, International Journal of Astrobiology (2006), 5:3:221-241 Cambridge University Press RAE2008The Aurora programme is the European Space Agency programme of planetary exploration focused primarily on Mars. Although the long-term goals of Aurora are uncertain, the early phases of the Aurora programme are based on a number of robotic explorer missions ? the first of these is the ExoMars rover mission currently scheduled for launch in 2013 (originally 2011). The ExoMars rover ? developed during a Phase A study ? is a 240 kg Mars rover supporting a 40 kg payload (called Pasteur) of scientific instruments specifically designed for astrobiological prospecting to search for evidence of extant or extinct life. In other words, ExoMars represents a new approach to experimental astrobiology in which scientific instruments are robotically deployed at extraterrestrial environments of astrobiological interest. Presented is an outline of the design of the rover, its robotic technology, its instrument complement and aspects of the design decisions made. ExoMars represents a highly challenging mission, both programmatically and technologically. Some comparisons are made with the highly successful Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.Peer reviewe

The aim was to determine reliability of lung function measurements performed according to recommendations of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) at a screening program in a large South African gold mine and to determine the usefulness of the reliability coefficient G for monitoring the reliability of lung function measurements in a mass screening program. The reliability coefficient G estimates the amount of random error of measurement, relative to the total variation in a measurement. The coefficient G was calculated as a correlation coefficient between two consecutive lung function tests performed within 6 mo, over a period of 43 mo on 3,378 miners. There was significant temporal variability in the reliability. For FEV(1), the coefficient G showed increased variability over the first 5 mo and stabilized at a value of 0.93 for the next 23 mo, after which it systematically declined over the next 15 mo. We estimated that in a large screening program, an optimal sample size of around 900 miners, examined randomly throughout the year, on a yearly basis, would provide a sufficient sample to examine monthly or quarterly fluctuation in the reliability. The value of the reliability coefficient G did not change when the time between two consecutive tests increased up to 15 mo. In conclusion, monitoring of lung function reliability in a screening program by the reliability coefficient G should improve data quality, and provide a measure on which the confidence in a decision-making process could be based when examining temporal changes in lung function for individual subjects.