ExTwo Rocky Waterloo

Expedition TwoA Mars-Analog Research ExpeditionArkaroola, South Australia: 

Expedition Two A Mars-Analog Research Expedition Arkaroola, South Australia Rocky Persaud Mars Society Canada November 22, 2004 August 2nd -- 29th, 2004

Research On Mars: 

Research On Mars What are the geological, geophysical, meteorological, climatic, and astrobiological research we can do on Mars? How do we decide which science goal to pursue and where on Mars? How do we organize science campaigns to maximize the science return, and minimize the operational clashes between very different modes of investigation?

MOLA Map of Mars: 

MOLA Map of Mars

Photo Reconnaissance of Mars: 

Photo Reconnaissance of Mars Global photo maps at a resolution of ~250 meters/pixel. High-resolution images at 1 to 3 m / pixel account for only 3-4% of the planet The few dozen types of landforms or geological features shown in the following images are the most common landforms returned by MGS – perhaps in the missing 97% unusual landforms can be found, but we must plan Human Expeditions to address the known areas.

Slide5: 

Craters These features are bowl-shaped remnants of ancient impact events. In the northern and southern middle latitudes of Mars, it is common to see them with textured floor patterns. The origins of these textures is not well understood, but Malin et al [reference] suggest the pattern in Figure 7 results from the sublimation of ground ice. Ejecta is the material that is thrown out from the crater during the explosion that results when a meteor collides with the planet. Fluidized ejecta is characterized by its lobate appearance as in Figure 6, and sometimes by the presence of a ridge along the margin of the ejecta deposit. It is suggested as an indication that the impact occurred into an ice-rich target.

Slide6: 

Large impacts sometimes throw up large ejecta blocks that can create secondary impacts.

Slide7: 

Faults Offset fault in layered rock in the floor of Ius Chasma. Graben Fossae are graben formed by extensional faulting. Many trough systems extend radially around the heavily faulted Tharsis region.

Slide8: 

Pit Chains Materials between the trough walls collapsed along the trend of the fault to create the chain of pits called catena. Tractus Catena within the Tractus Fossae. Layered bedrock is exposed in the walls of the pits.

Slide9: 

Lava flow margin in Daedalia Planitia. Lava flows on Ascraeus Mons with a collapsed lava tube. The giant shield volcano Olympus Mons, largest in the solar system, 550 km wide, 25 km high.

Slide10: 

Overlapping, dust-covered lava flows on the southeastern flank of Olympus Mons, with leveed channels. Margin of a lava flow spilling into an impact crater. Platy flows These features are either volcanic flow or mud flows. The material, whether mud or lava, was very fluid and had a thin crust on its surface, that broke apart and rafted a distance down the valley.

Slide11: 

Yardangs Despite the thin atmosphere, winds on Mars raise a lot of dust and is a erosional force prevalent on Mars today. Wind-eroded material among ridges Sand dunes on Mars are usually dark, due to their mafic composition from Fe- and Mg-rich minerals and rock fragments. Large sand dunes with a light coating of dust disrupted by dust devil tracks.

Slide12: 

Wind Streaks are usually made by a single gust of wind covering a large area, as in Figure 27, producing parallel streaking patterns. Areas behind a mass, like the walls of the crater in the left figure, produce a streaking pattern that is commonly seen in photos. Slope Streaks occur in areas heavily mantled by fine, dry dust. Dust devils are solitary, spinning vortices of wind that produce dust devil streaks, marking paths across the landscape. Acting at different times, dust devil streaks overlap and cross.

Slide13: 

Mesas, Plateaus, and Knobs

Slide14: 

Buttes

Slide15: 

Fretted Terrain The fretted terrains of Mars are regions along the boundary between cratered highlands and northern lowland plains that have been broken-down into mesas, buttes, and valleys. On the floors of some of these valleys occurs a distinctive lineated and pitted texture--like the example shown here. The cause of the textures is not known, although for decades some scientists have speculated that ice is involved. While this is possible, it is far from a demonstrated fact.

Slide16: 

A typical branching valley network in the Terra Meridiani region, with bright sand filling the valleys. Nanedi Vallis meanders, with terraces suggesting continual fluid flow and downcutting. However, it is lacking smaller channel tributaries on the surface surrounding the canyon, what tributaries exist are box-headed, and the size and tightness of the apparent meanders suggest formation by collapse.

Slide17: 

Streamlined Islands (left) and Braided Channels (right)

Slide18: 

Gullies cut the mantling material on the slope of a deep pit in a crater in Noachis Terra.

Slide19: 

Seepage and Ponding Photo appears to be an indication of liquid water having seeped from the rim of a crater, with water and sediment having ponded in its floor. One dark surface shows a rippled texture and is known from Viking images to be a field of windblown dunes. The other is a relatively smooth surface with "islands" of bright material within it. The boundary between the dark floor materials and the lighter materials of the crater wall suggests, by the formation of bays and peninsulas, a "ponding" relationship.

Slide20: 

Distributary fan-shaped deposit.

Slide21: 

Carbon dioxide in the south polar regions sublimates in the souther summer as temperatures rise. Pits, mesas, and buttes are created among the ice deposits.

Slide22: 

Polar layered deposits Thick layered deposits on the polar caps as in Figure 52 and Figure 53 likely contain a climatolog-ical record of Mars stretching back millions of years.

Slide23: 

South polar terrain with large and small polygons, probably indicative of frost heaving from ground ice, in an old impact crater

Slide24: 

Polygonal cracks with aligned, elliptical pits in western Utopia Planitia.

Slide25: 

Layered Outcrops

Science Campaigning on Mars : 

Science Campaigning on Mars How do we approach the scientific investigation of all these different types of sites? I will attempt to answer this later in the presentation.

Slide27: 

27 Analog Research An environment or situation on Earth with has by nature or simulation analogous characteristics to environment or situation on Mars. 27

Slide28: 

28 28 Arkaroola, Northern Flinders Ranges, Australia Site for MARS-OZ and Expedition Two

Slide29: 

29 29 Research Themes on Expedition Two Four main themes to the research: Collecting baseline environmental data on the field area and selection of the site for the construction of MARS-OZ, the fourth Mars Analogue Research Station. Psychological and human factors Field trials of the MarsSkin 3 analogue mechanical counter pressure suit, EVA dataloggers, and Scouting Methodology operational research. Geological and astrobiological field science

Slide30: 

30 Geology 30 Arkaroola, South Australia The Arkaroola area is a region of considerable interest with respect to geology. Haematite-rich fossil hydrothermal system of Mount Gee provides a possible analogue to putative haematite-depositing hydrothermal systems on Mars. The various surfaces, duricrusts and sediments of the Lake Frome area provide an analogue for the type of complexity that would need to be interpreted on Mars.

Slide31: 

Flinders Ranges

Slide32: 

Rock face

Slide33: 

Mount Painter

Slide34: 

Lake Frome – a salt lake – from airplane

Slide35: 

Chronologically dating sand dunes by measuring optimally stimulated luminescence of quartz grains from core samples obtained by auguring relic longitudinal dunes in the Strzelecki Desert…. A likely challenging task for Mars.

Slide36: 

36 Biology 36 Relevance to Planetary Science If life exists elsewhere in the solar system, it is probably microbial. This has implications for issues of planetary protection Numerous opportunities exist for the study of dry land ecology, endolithic and cryptoendolithic organisms. Of particular interest is the presence of radiation resistant extremophiles in the waters of Paralana hot spring. Could provide an analogue to where life could be found on Mars.

Slide39: 

39 Space Suits 39 The MCP suit uses layered elastic fabrics to hold the body at livable pressures. Unpressurised except for helmet & groin. Current suits are gas pressurized - stiff, lack dexterity, and make crew work harder during EVA for less productivity Mechanical Counter-Pressure Suit James Waldie testing prototype glove, University of San Diego. Simulated (analogue) space suits

Slide42: 

42 Dataloggers 42 Dataloggers assist data collection: Digital cameras Digital voice recorders GPS receivers Mobile computer Further testing of dataloggers incorporated into MarsSkin Version 3 spacesuit.

Slide45: 

With backup notepad!

Human Expedition Research: 

Human Expedition Research Science campaigns begin with scouting campaigns and mapping. Need a way to document scouted data

Project HERMES:Human Expedition Research For Mars Expedition Science: 

Project HERMES: Human Expedition Research For Mars Expedition Science Evolved from the SEMS project (Scouting Exploration Methodology Study) Consists of a hierarchical documentation procedure to characterize scouted sites for potential geological interest, such that the Remote Science Team is provided with the same geospatial context as the Mars Field Team for all reported field data.

Slide51: 

Purpose of the SEMS Effective asynchronous collaboration and communication between the RST and the field crew Process of increasing focus from large scale to small Photo documentation of features and samples Putting remote and field crews “On the same page” Influencing Automation and Robotics research Science Directed Scouting Photo-location of features for Site Revisits

Purpose of the Datalogger: 

Purpose of the Datalogger To aide the astronaut-scout in acquiring and reporting geological and geospatial information. Combines a GPS with camera, and PDA computer for voice and text notes; along with compass, electronic sample labeler, and tools for geological field work. Uses software to integrate the data by stamping all photos with GPS and Time information, and captioning photos according to the naming convention established by the SEMS methodology; post-EVA scouts use spreadsheets to manually link to data such as audio files, photos and GPS track-logs. Second purpose to acquire operational information for work measurement studies that assess the exploration strategy’s work efficiency on a task, tool and temporal basis. These define the “metrics of exploration”.

Purpose of Project HERMES: 

Purpose of Project HERMES A goal of the research in the long term is to answer “How can the exploration circle be explored effectively without missing any important features (both geological and biological) in a 500 day mission using all available resources (robotics, remote sensing, RST, technology, etc.)?” Project HERMES approaches this goal by establishing some basic metrics regarding the time it takes to do a scouting campaign for the finite number of feature types / terrain types found in the MDRS area. Once these metrics are measured for additional Mars analog features / terrains that span the entire variety found on Mars, this data can be extrapolated to define the total time required to explore *any* location on Mars, per given science goal. Expedition Alpha is focused on developing the metrics for the terrain / features in the MDRS area when the goal is specifically to search for chemical or biological concretions. The mode of investigation in the field may be similar to modes for other science goals, so the metrics can be extrapolated based on analogous scouting strategies.

Exploration Circle Map Perspective: 

Exploration Circle Map Perspective An Exploration Circle is the area that might be explorable from a landed Mars base. We will assume it covers an area of 100 to 400 km in diameter. The explorable area will depend on many factors such as whether exploration will be only to targeted sites of known interest, or whether a gridded scouting pattern will be used to discover geological features unknown by prior satellite reconnaissance.

Regional Map Perspective: 

Regional Map Perspective Establish grid system to identify a location referencing system. Identify areas within this perspective that meet mission objectives; or establish a scouting campaign strategy to systematically search for features of interest based on science campaign goals. This map is named by convention: Region.<Region Name>.jpg

Local Map Perspective: 

Local Map Perspective Grid nodes are the center for circular areas to be scouted (Scouting Circles) Circle perimeters are not absolute boundaries. Each scouting circle visited (1 to 3 km in diameter) is designated Circle.<Location Name> The image file would be Circle.<Location Name>.jpg Within each Circle, a central Pan must be done approximately at the location of the grid node, and as many as 4 secondary Pans to establish adequate photo-coverage of the Circle. Pre-EVA traverse planning can use topographic information to determine the best locations for the secondary pans.

Pan Perspective: 

Pan Perspective From this perspective annotate possible future research by bearing direction of a feature or outcrop.

Horizon Perspective: 

Horizon Perspective Choose a site from the pan perspective such as fluvial environment or unusual features

Outcrop Perspective: 

Outcrop Perspective Select feature from local perspective but closer image This perspective is the bridge between the local environment context (seen in pan and horizon perspectives) and the sample to be taken within this image. Therefore, the RST should be able to identify within this image where the sample is taken. Annotation of where sample taken at this step is preferred or marker (aka rock hammer) Use ruler for scale Note any unusual features

In Situ Perspective: 

In Situ Perspective Closer image than outcrop, sample should be visible in this image but should also show context Ruler should be used for scale at this step Note unusual features

Sample Perspective In Situ: 

Sample Perspective In Situ Ruler Scale should also been visible within this image as well More then likely will have to be in a kneeling position to take image Image should be taken in situ Note rock type and any visibly minerals* Take another ruler to measure clast size, visible minerals, or grain size if possible* Note lithology*

Magnified Sample Perspective: 

Magnified Sample Perspective Using same samples in previous image take magnifying lens to sample Add scale in image if possible Where on rock did this perspective come from? This is import with endoliths? Note lithology*

Long Term Plan: 

Long Term Plan Define a set of field operational procedures for all different modes of investigation. Match each mode to the appropriate Mars landform or geologic feature. Categorize all areas of Mars in terms of the type of science to be done there, the mode of investigation, and the operational factors from the best work strategies. This might take the next 20 years!

Slide64: 

Where did you park the rover? I’m checking the data-logger!