NASA will land its next rover, Perseverance, on the surface of Mars in February 2021, and an engineer from the Curiosity rover’s pilot team has just opened up about how the process is.
There is approximately a 22-minute signal delay between Earth and Mars, which means that piloting the boat over unknown terrain requires unique planning. Evan Hilgemann, a NASA engineer who was selected to be part of the team of engineers who piloted the Curiosity rover, recently wrote a Medium publication opening about what the experience was like.
His goal in writing the message was not only to share his unique story, but also to give everyone who saw Perserverence driving through the red planet some background on what is going on behind the scenes.
The first thing Hilgemann points out about driving the rover is that “Curiosity only receives information from the Earth once a day and the rest of the time it does so on its own. “So how can your team pilot the rover if you only get information once a day?
Piloting the rover
For starters, the rovers are covered with 3D cameras that allow you to get an accurate picture of your entire environment. With built-in sensors, the rover is capable of performing many tasks autonomously, such as picking up and scanning rocks with the built-in laser or circulating with planned patterns. However, the robot sometimes sticks, and when that happens, it usually stays strong until it receives more instructions from the green planet.
The person taking the address as the rover driver at all times has a responsibility to keep the rover safe. Achieving this goal successfully means being able to see where you are going. The team of engineers is able to develop a virtual image of the rover’s environment using navigation cameras and hazcams. Hazcams are cameras on board that detect nearby hazards, such as rocks or margins, and navcams focus on more distant environments to trace the location.
As for sending the rover its instructions once the engineers have a clear picture, the team has a few options. They can send information in blind driving mode. Hilgemann points out that “driving blind is the simplest form of navigation available. In this mode, the rover will follow the specific instructions given to it, but will not make any adjustments based on actual progress. “
Another method is “Visual Odometry,” which Hilgemann points out to be the most widely used method. This method essentially involves the rover taking pictures at regular intervals, about every meter, and then comparing the images with the previous images to see where it is moving and how the terrain has changed.
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Finally, the highest technique in driving techniques is called “autonav,” in which the rover can only cover “100 meters in one hour. “This mode is like driving automatically in vehicles. Using its security cameras and on-board navigation, the rover can develop an image of its surroundings and autonomously trace safe paths. The composite image that the rover develops has the appearance of the image below, with the various colors indicating safe (green) or dangerous (red) terrain.
Next steps of perseverance
Assuming everything goes according to plan planned for Perseverance in February, the pilot will begin to be piloted by his crew using one of the three methods Hilgemann described. However, there is a significant risk that the rover will not reach the surface. The descent and landing phase of the drone is by far the greatest chance of catastrophic failure in the mission.
One note Hilgemann adds about the new rover is that it is a kind of speed demon compared to Curiosity. He adds, “the new rover will generally be able to drive at least twice as fast as Curiosity thanks to new dedicated computing resources and better algorithms. Perseverance navigation cameras also have a higher color and resolution” than Curiosity.
Perseverance will land on Mars on February 18, 2021.