Experiments in Onboard Rover Traverse Science

The onboard autonomous science investigation system (OASIS) evaluates geologic data gathered by a planetary rover. This analysis is used to prioritize the data for transmission, so that the data with the highest science value is transmitted to Earth. In addition, the onboard analysis results are used to identify science opportunities. A planning and scheduling component of the system enables the rover to take advantage of identified science opportunities. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of the entire OASIS system, and then describe new system capabilities with an emphasis on the identification of novel features during a traverse. This capability has been integrated into the full system and validated in field testing. In addition, the system has been integrated with the visual target tracking (VTT) capability recently uploaded to the Mars exploration rovers. VTT enables the system to robustly track a specified target. By integrating this with the autonomous science system, the rover can approach targets identified onboard and acquire targeted measurements both from additional viewing angles as well as from positions in close proximity to the target.