Multi-mission activity planning for Mars lander and rover missions

The Web interface for telescience (WITS) provides downlink data visualization and uplink activity planning for multiple Mars lander and rover missions. WITS also provides a ground data system (GDS) for terrestrial rover operations. The architecture of the WITS system that enables its multi-mission use is described. WITS has been used as the GDS for the Rocky7, FIDO, and Rocky8 rovers at JPL. It was used for command sequence generation for the Mars Polar Lander mission robotic arm and robotic arm camera are to be used for science activity planning in the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission. It is also planned for use in the 2007 Phoenix Mars lander mission and 2009 Mars science laboratory (MSL) rover mission. WITS is currently being integrated with the Mission Data System (MDS) for use in the MSL mission and with the coupled layer architecture for robotic autonomy (CLARAty) system for use as the GDS for terrestrial technology development landers and rovers.