Onboard Autonomy Requirements for an Ocean Worlds Submersible Mission
No abstract provided
Jakuba, Michael V.↗
Engineering topics
German, Christopher R.
Publications and source records attributed to German, Christopher R..
Evaluation of AUV Search Strategies for the Localization of Hydrothermal Venting
Ocean Worlds represent one of the best chances for the dis- covery of extra-terrestrial life within our own solar system, particularly near sources of hydrothermal venting. To study the oceans on Ocean Worlds will require a new type of mis- sion to penetrate the icy shell, deploy an autonomous under- water vehicle (AUV), and travel potentially hundreds of kilo- both inspired by (Burian et al. 1996). We have improved a meters with minimal contact to Earth based operations teams. previously-developed nested search strategy (Branch et al. To maximize the science return, the AUV would need to be capable of fully autonomously locating and studying scien- tific features of interest. We have developed two strategies to locate sources of hydrothermal venting: a gradient ascent strategy and a greedy transect search strategy. We have im- proved a previously-implemented nested search strategy by adding a vertical search component. Each strategy is tested in a hydrothermal plume dispersion simulation. We compare the effectiveness of each method in this environment.
Seewald, Jeffrey S.↗
Demonstration of Autonomous Nested Search for Local Maxima using an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle, ICRA Submission
Ocean Worlds represent one of the best chances for extra-terrestrial life in our solar system. A new mission concept must be developed to explore these oceans. This mission would require traversing the 10s of km thick icy shell and releasing a submersible into the ocean below. During the transit of the icy shell and the exploration of the ocean, the vehicle(s) would be out of contact with Earth for weeks or potentially months at a time. During this time the vehicle must have sufficient autonomy to locate and study scientific targets of interest. One such target of interest is hydrothermal venting. We have previously developed an autonomous nested search method to locate and investigate sources of hydrothermal venting by locating local maxima in hydrothermal vent emissions. In this work we demonstrate this approach on board an OceanServer Iver2 AUV in Chesapeake Bay, MD using simulated sensor data from a hydrothermal plume model. This represents the first step towards the deployment of this approach in conditions analogous to those that we might expect on an Ocean World.
Branch, Andrew↗
Demonstration of Autonomous Nested Search for Local Maxima using an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle
UNKNOWN
Seewald, Jeffrey S.↗
The NASA Roadmap to Ocean Worlds
In this article, we summarize the work of the NASA Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds (ROW) group. The aim of this group is to assemble the scientific framework that will guide the exploration of ocean worlds, and to identify and prioritize science objectives for ocean worlds over the next several decades. The overarching goal of an Ocean Worlds exploration program as defined by ROW is to “identify ocean worlds, characterize their oceans, evaluate their habitability, search for life, and ultimately understand any life we find.” The ROW team supports the creation of an exploration program that studies the full spectrum of ocean worlds, that is, not just the exploration of known ocean worlds such as Europa but candidate ocean worlds such as Triton as well. The ROW team finds that the confirmed ocean worlds Enceladus, Titan, and Europa are the highest priority bodies to target in the near term to address ROW goals. Triton is the highest priority candidate ocean world to target in the near term. A major finding of this study is that, to map out a coherent Ocean Worlds Program, significant input is required from studies here on Earth; rigorous Research and Analysis studies are called for to enable some future ocean worlds missions to be thoughtfully planned and undertaken. A second finding is that progress needs to be made in the area of collaborations between Earth ocean scientists and extraterrestrial ocean scientists.
Hendrix, Amanda R.↗
Autonomous Nested Search for Hydrothermal Venting
Ocean Worlds in the outer solar system represent one of the best chances for the discovery of extra-terrestrial life. Bodies, such as Europa and Enceladus, are thought to harbor liquid oceans, often encased in a thick icy shell. In order to further investigate these oceans, a new mission concept needs to be developed, a submersible craft. This vehicle would be required to traverse the icy shell and travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometers to survey the ocean below. In doing this, the vehicle might be out of contact for weeks or months at a time. The vehicle must be able to autonomously detect,locate, and study features of interest. One potential target is hydrothermal venting, due to their unique ecosystems on Earth. We have developed an autonomous, nested search strategy to locate sources of hydrothermal venting based on currently used methods. To test this search technique a simulation environment was developed using a hydrothermal plume dispersion simulation and a vehicle model. We show the effectiveness of the search method in this environment.
Seewald, Jeffrey S.↗