Mars Astrobiological Cave and Internal habitability Explorer (MACIE): A New Frontiers Mission Concept

Phillips-Lander, C. M.; Agha-mohamamdi, A.; Wynne, J. Judson; Titus, T. N.; Chanover, N. J.; Demirel‐Floyd, Cansu; Uckert, K.; Williams, Kimberly; Wyrick, D. Y.; Blank, Jennifer; Boston, Penelope J.; Mitchell, K. L.; Keresztúri, A.; Martín‐Torres, Javier; Shkolyar, Svetlana; Bardabelias, N. M.; Datta, Sukanya; Retherford, K. D.; Sam, Lydia; Bhardwaj, Anshuman; Fairén, Alberto González; Flannery, David; Wiens, R. C.

doi:10.3847/25c2cfeb.cf124da3

Cited by 4 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…For Mars, based on a mission concept study, Phillips‐Lander et al. ( 2020 ) found that a near‐term cave life detection mission would exceed the NASA New Frontiers cost cap and would require funding at the level of a Flagship Mission. However, with sagacious site selection, advances in terrestrial robotics and autonomous sampling in conjunction with leveraging Mars2020 precision‐landing heritage and Mars Sample Return technologies, a Martian cave mission could fit within the New Frontiers cost cap this decade (Phillips‐Lander et al., 2020 ) (Q33).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…( 2020 ) found that a near‐term cave life detection mission would exceed the NASA New Frontiers cost cap and would require funding at the level of a Flagship Mission. However, with sagacious site selection, advances in terrestrial robotics and autonomous sampling in conjunction with leveraging Mars2020 precision‐landing heritage and Mars Sample Return technologies, a Martian cave mission could fit within the New Frontiers cost cap this decade (Phillips‐Lander et al., 2020 ) (Q33). However, to have the greatest latitude in mission objectives and scope, the aforementioned robotic platforms should be advanced in tandem (Titus et al., 2021 ) (Q40), while AI/autonomous navigation and decision‐making programming, and cave‐robotics instrument payloads progress toward flight‐qualified/proven status (TRL 8–9).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fundamental Science and Engineering Questions in Planetary Cave Exploration

et al. 2022

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Nearly half a century ago, two papers postulated the likelihood of lunar lava tube caves using mathematical models. Today, armed with an array of orbiting and fly-by satellites and survey instrumentation, we have now acquired cave data across our solar system-including the identification of potential cave entrances on the Moon, Mars, and at least nine other planetary bodies. These discoveries gave rise to the study of planetary caves. To help advance this field, we leveraged the expertise of an interdisciplinary group to identify a strategy to explore caves beyond Earth. Focusing primarily on astrobiology, the cave environment, geology, robotics, instrumentation, and human exploration, our goal was to produce a framework to guide this subdiscipline through at least the next decade. To do this, we first assembled a list of 198 science and engineering questions. Then, through a series of social surveys, 114 scientists and engineers winnowed down the list to the top 53 highest priority questions. This exercise resulted in identifying emerging and crucial research areas that require robust development to ultimately support a robotic mission to a planetary caveprincipally the Moon and/or Mars. With the necessary financial investment and institutional support, the research and technological development required to achieve these necessary advancements over the next decade WYNNE ET AL.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fundamental Science and Engineering Questions in Planetary Cave Exploration

et al. 2022

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“…Planetary exploration has benefited from advancements in robotics through automation of data collection for planetary science and robotic precursor missions for human space exploration [1]. To date, robotic precursor missions have engaged in surface exploration of Mars [2] but have not explored subsurface environments despite the potential geological and astrobiological significance of these domains [3,4]. As a result, robotic subsurface exploration has been identified as a key technology for future missions to these planets [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Exploration frameworks cannot assume a priori knowledge about the structure of the environment so the exploration system must operate with unknown locomotion constraints. Aerial robots have recently been leveraged to mitigate these constraints in the subterranean domain [8] and considered for subsurface mapping on Mars [3]. In this work, we consider aerial robots operating in a cave on Earth (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid and High-Fidelity Subsurface Exploration with Multiple Aerial Robots

Goel¹,

Tabib²,

Michael³

2020

Preprint

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This paper develops a communication-efficient distributed mapping approach for rapid exploration of a cave by a multi-robot team. Subsurface planetary exploration is an unsolved problem challenged by communication, power, and compute constraints. Prior works have addressed the problems of rapid exploration and leveraging multiple systems to increase exploration rate; however, communication considerations have been left largely unaddressed. This paper bridges this gap in the state of the art by developing distributed perceptual modeling that enables high-fidelity mapping while remaining amenable to low-bandwidth communication channels. The approach yields significant gains in exploration rate for multi-robot teams as compared to state-of-the-art approaches. The work is evaluated through simulation studies and hardware experiments in a wild cave in West Virginia.

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“…• examine microbial life of tellurian caves as Mars analogs (e.g., Boston, 2004;Boston et al, 2006;Léveillé & Datta, 2010;Röling et al, 2015;Selensky et al, 2021;Westall et al, 2015); • model environments of terrestrial and potential martian cave systems (e.g., Schörghofer et al, 2018;Titus et al, 2010;Williams & McKay, 2015;Williams et al, 2010); • improve cave detection capabilities (e.g., Cushing et al, 2015;Hong et al, 2015;Pisani & De Waele, 2021;Wynne et al, 2008Wynne et al, , 2021); • develop and expand upon life detection instrumentation and techniques (e.g., Patrick et al, 2012;Preston et al, 2014;Storrie-Lombardi et al, 2011;Uckert et al, 2020); • expand the number of cave explorer robotic platforms under development (Green & Oh, 2005;Kesner et al, 2007;Morad et al, 2019;Nesnas et al, 2012;Parness et al, 2017;Titus, Wynne, Boston, et al, 2021;Titus, Wynne, Malaska, et al, 2021); • advance robotic sensing and navigational capabilities (e.g., Agha-Mohammadi et al, 2021;Kalita et al, 2017;Kim et al, 2021;Thakker et al, 2021); and, • propose mission concepts (e.g., Kerber et al, 2019;Phillips-Lander et al, 2020;Whittaker et al, 2021;Ximenes et al, 2012) and strategies to optimize future planetary cave exploration efforts (e.g., Rummel et al, 2014;…”

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confidence: 99%