Site B Introduction

Life in the Atacama 2005Science & Technology Workshop

January 6-7, 2005

• Pre-landing analysis

• Derived hypotheses

• Daily planning & program

• Post-ops overview

A. N. HockUCUCLALA

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop

2 NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon

Site B

• Remote science ops:• Cabrol, Dohm, Fisher, Hock, Piatek, Warren-Rhodes, Weinstein

• Goals• Find life!• Evaluate habitability with onboard instrumentation• Test rover ability (trafficability, data acquisition, etc.)• Long traverse

• Strategy• Pre-landing analysisi.d. potential habitatslong-term

planningdaily planning• Regional geologic/biologic survey ‘tuned’ to spatially-scaled

hypotheses (orbital-local-micro scale observations)

• Traverse summary• 7 sols• 14 unique locales• ~6 km planned traverse

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop

3 NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon

Pre-landing analysis

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop

4 NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon

Derived hypotheses• Possible carbonate mineralogic signatures identified using thermal emission spectra indicates ancient/recent aqueous activity, including weathering and secondary mineralization.

a. Geologic materials exposed at the surface with both high reflectance in the near infrared and relativelylow reflectance in the visible wavelength spectra using VNIR suggests the presence of chlorophyll and/or evaporite minerals (e.g. gypsum).

b. Geologic materials within some of the surface runoff features (e.g., individual valleys and valley networks) display high red reflectivity; the signature of these materials may vary with season, indicating potential water-induced secondary mineralization and increased potential for viable habitats. • Topographically-controlled flow and deposition of atmospheric watervapor (clouds, fog--both marine and radiative) enables life in arid regions where surface water may otherwise not be available. • Features associated with surface water flow (individual valleys and valley networks, ancient basins, sites of potential groundwater seeps--ancient/recent/geothermal activity and/or groundwater migration along basement structures and geologic contacts--and Salar Grande) increase the potential of identifying prime life-containing environments because of the implied presence of ancient/recent hydrologic/hydrogeologic activity. • Solar insolation (a function of location time of year, local atmospheric conditions and micro- to macro-topography) provides a strong control on habitability--we indicated general solar direction on our schematic map to indicate this.  Certain locations may benefit from increased insolation while others may benefit from shade (e.g. many non-polar desert ecosystems).

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop

5 NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon

Daily planning & program

Rover (Chile) Science Ops (Pittsburgh)0600 Wake up

Wake up 06300700 Ops opens / more analysis0730 Specify survey traverse0900 Finalize target selection

Charged up / Downlink 0930 Uplink rover traverseBegin traverse 1030Conclude traverse / 1600 Downlink / initial analysis Uplink science data / hibernate

1900 Ops closesWake up, night operation2100Subsurface option 2130Sleep (low power) 2200

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop

6 NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon

Daily planning & program

Phase I science ops recap: Daily planning

0. Pre-downlink: make an outline plan of tomorrow’s operations & strategy beyond final locale.1. Post-panorama: consider alterations to outline plan based on results from final locale.2. Planning, 3 stages:A. As a team, plan using homemade MS Excel template.B. Input plan to Eventscope.C. Write up text support document.

3. Team review of plan; after deadline, no more changes to plan.4. Upload.

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop

7 NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon

Site B: post-ops overview

• Sol 1 (locale 1): Landing day—high res pan & long-term planning• Sol 2 (2, 3): local exploration, bearing N to topographic low and potential change in surface mineralogy• Sol 3 (4-6): cont’d…• Sol 4 (7-11): new geology? Heading W towards geologic contact & ancient drainage • Sol 5 (14, 19): continuing upslope to valley in coastal range—terrific mobility (autonomous?)• Sol 6 (19b-d): moving S across several fan units; follow the water (vapor!)• Sol 7 (20, 24): …runout. Attempted return to landing area foiled by weather

Life in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop

8 NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie Mellon

Site B: post-ops overview

9 NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie MellonLife in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop

Site B critical analysis - logistics

• Better commumications with rover team.• Understanding level of Zoe’s autonomy prior to planning.• Some level of silent, introspective review time is important as a team.• Current schedule for plan upload redundant, time-consuming •Instrument-specific lessons:• Fluorescence imager: single images effective; dye

penetration?; conversion from web-images to science product—parallel image display.•Meteorology: install instruments on Zoe; request data!• VIS/NIR Spectrometer: time requirements (software)?

10 NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie MellonLife in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop

Site B critical analysis – science

• The ‘sage brush’ lesson• Sol 4, locale 08 Sol 5, locale 14

• More time/staff needed for data review

• Bore-sighted VNIR spectrometer

• Weather instruments mission-critical• Processed data product available online?

11 NASA Ames Research Center / Carnegie MellonLife in the Atacama 2005 Science/Technology Workshop

Site B critical analysis – science

• The ‘fovial pan’ lesson:

• Near field: low resolution• Mid field: high resolution, less solar panels• Far field: low resolution* Minimizes bandwidth use for maximal data return