Investigating Habitability with an Integrated Rock-Climbing Robot and Astrobiology Instrument Suite

Abstract

A prototype rover carrying an astrobiology payload was developed and deployed at analog field sites to mature generalized system architectures capable of searching for biosignatures in extreme terrain across the Solar System. Specifically, the four-legged Limbed Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot (LEMUR) 3 climbing robot with microspine grippers carried three instruments: A micro-X-ray fluorescence instrument based on the Mars 2020 mission's Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry provided elemental chemistry; a deep-ultraviolet fluorescence instrument based in Mars 2020s Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals mapped organics in bacterial communities on opaque substrates; and a nearinfrared acousto-optic tunable filter-based point spectrometer identified minerals and organics in the 1.6-3.6 mm range. The rover also carried a light detection and ranging and a color camera for both science and navigation. Combined, this payload detects astrobiologically important classes of rock components (elements, minerals, and organics) in extreme terrain, which, as demonstrated in this work, can reveal a correlation between textural biosignatures and the organics or elements expected to preserve them in a habitable environment. Across >10 field tests, milestones were achieved in instrument operations, autonomous mobility in extreme terrain, and system integration that can inform future planetary science mission architectures. Contributions include (1) system-level demonstration of mock missions to the vertical exposures of Mars lava tube caves and Mars canyon walls, (2) demonstration of multi-instrument integration into a confocal arrangement with surface scanning capabilities, and (3) demonstration of automated focus stacking algorithms for improved signal-tonoise ratios and reduced operation time.

WITHDRAWN: Dimensional Optimization of Multi-legged Climbing Robot for Asteriod Exploration Based on Performance Atlas

“…Third, legged robots are considered as an alternative of asteroid exploration robots benefit from they can locomote on extreme terrains, and have better positioning capabilities for body position and posture [11]. JPL has presented a climbing robot which can crawl on the ceiling of a cave on Mars, or carry out exploration missions on asteroids [12]. Kazuya Yoshida has presented two novel concepts for asteroid exploration robots [13].…”

Learning from biological attachment devices: applications of bioinspired reversible adhesive methods in robotics

“…Many spiny gripers, inspired by birds and lizards, have been designed to generate force closure and provide greater adhesion by combining grasping and hooking such as examples in Fig. 17 [19,132,[150][151][152]. As shown in Fig.…”

SISPO: Space Imaging Simulator for Proximity Operations

“…Lava caves, the isolated underground environments, exist on Moon [51] and Mars [52]. These caves have been studied by remote sensing and have not been explored by dedicated missions, although some were proposed and developed, such as Moon Diver [53] and rock climber Lemur [54]. Lava tubes have been morphologically related to ones formed on Earth in volcanic rock by a volcanic eruption [55].…”