AEGIS Autonomous Targeting for the SuperCam Instrument on the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

The AEGIS (Automated Exploration for Gathering Increased Science) intelligent instrument targeting software system is used aboard NASA’s Mars rovers to autonomously select targets for science instruments, and collect such data without Earth in the loop. This capability is especially useful in periods where human operators on Earth have not yet received image information to allow human-guided instrument targeting. After successful demonstration on the MER Opportunity rover, and extensive use aboard the MSL Curiosity rover, in 2022 AEGIS was deployed to the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, for targeting the SuperCam remote spectrometer instrument. AEGIS has seen extensive use on Mars 2020, collecting scientific measurements on over 150 targets as of submission. The new capabilities of SuperCam compared to previous instruments have allowed 1) a greater range of scientific data to be collected, and 2) new AEGIS features added since the initial Curiosity deployment have allowed the science and operations teams to more quickly react to information about AEGIS-selected targets, leading to beneficials adjustments in strategies for human-selected targets in response. AEGIS has performed well in selecting desirable science targets even as the Perseverance rover has made rapid progress across many kilometres over several types of new terrain.In some phases of the mission AEGIS has acquired the majority of geological/geochemical measurements, when mission circumstances constrained human-targeted science observations. We report on the deployment timeline and strategy, adjustments and enhancements to AEGIS compared to the 2015 Curiosity deployment, statistics and performance of the system in-situ on Mars, and notable results from AEGIS on Perseverance.