Simulating Science Operations for a Coordinated Rover-Helicopter Mission Architecture in a Mars Analogue Setting

Aerial platforms can extend and enhance exploration of planetary surfaces without the mobility limitations of rovers and landers. Inspired by the recent success and challenges of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, the Rover-Aerial Vehicle Exploration Network project sought to explore operational strategies, particularly the balance of shared resources, and the science value of a dual rover-helicopter mission architecture. A remote science operations team carried out a five-day-long Mars mission simulation executed by a field team in the Rainbow Basin Natural Area near Barstow, California, USA. The simulation demonstrated the rover’s ability to collect nested, progressively more detailed, specifically targeted image and compositional observations with a complementary multi-instrument payload. The helicopter, meanwhile, excelled at the collection of extensive image surveys providing views of diverse terrains and geologic units within the exploration area otherwise inaccessible to the rover. Of the data acquired by the helicopter, oblique images acquired ~5 m above ground level proved to be the most useful from a science and strategic operational planning perspective. The dual mission architecture had clear science advantages over individual rover or helicopter missions but sharing daily data downlink between the mission elements presented one of the greatest operational challenges during the simulation. Rover operations demanded daily, “reactive” tactical planning and rapid downlink of science data to enable targeting and traverse decisions, while the helicopter was best suited to a “predictive” advanced planning timeline for operations, data volume management, and science analysis.