Mapping the red planet with the power of open science

Combining photos from orbit with photos from the floor, a JPL-developed device permits researchers to zoom in to see particular person boulders and zoom out to see all of Mars.

Mars rovers can solely make thrilling new discoveries because of human scientists making cautious choices about their subsequent cease.

The Mars 2020 mission is geared toward exploring the geology of Jezero Crater and in search of indicators of historical microbial life on Mars utilizing the Perseverance rover. Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California used novel mapping strategies to direct each the rover and the flights of the Ingenuity helicopter, which rode to Mars on Perseverance—and so they did all of it with open-source instruments.

JPL mapping specialists Dr. Fred Calef III and Dr. Nathan Williams used geospatial evaluation to assist the scientific community and NASA science management choose Jezero Crater because the touchdown web site for Perseverance and Ingenuity. Earlier than the automobiles arrived on Mars, they helped create maps of the terrain utilizing knowledge from orbiting satellites.

“Maps and pictures are a typical language between totally different individuals—scientists, engineers, and administration,” Williams stated. “They assist ensure that everybody’s on the identical web page shifting ahead, in a united entrance to attain one of the best science that we are able to.”

After the mission touched down on Mars in February 2021, the Ingenuity helicopter opportunistically scouted forward to take photographs. The staff then generated extra detailed maps from each rover and helicopter picture knowledge to assist plan the Perseverance rover’s path and science investigations.

To allow this full-scale mapping of Mars, Calef created the Multi-Mission Geographic Info System (MMGIS), an open-source web-based mapping interface. On-line demos of the software program, pre-loaded with Mars imagery taken from orbit, enable guests to discover the paths of Perseverance, Ingenuity, and the Curiosity rover, a sister Mars mission that landed in 2012.

The open nature of the software program was key to the mission’s success. “We have now individuals actually everywhere in the world who’re engaged on the mission, and we want to have the ability to give them quick and fast entry to software program and knowledge,” Calef stated.

MMGIS aimed to assist individuals perceive the complete scope of Martian geography. By combining photos from orbit and augmenting with photos from Perseverance and Ingenuity, the JPL staff permits researchers to zoom in to see particular person boulders and zoom out to see all of Mars.

This number of viewpoints provides the staff a way of scale and context to correctly perceive the panorama across the Perseverance rover, and learn how to optimally obtain their science targets throughout the accessible terrain.

The affect of the instruments developed by the JPL staff went past the Mars 2020 mission. The staff needed their software program to assist different researchers simply visualize their knowledge with no need to be knowledge visualization consultants themselves. Because of this open-source method, different groups have now used MMGIS to map Earth and different planetary our bodies.

In line with this open philosophy, the images taken by Perseverance and Ingenuity over the course of the Mars 2020 mission are freely accessible to the general public. By sharing these knowledge with the remainder of the world, the outcomes from the mission can be utilized to coach, encourage, and allow additional analysis.

As Mars scientists look to the longer term, with the Perseverance rover staff deploying much more superior instruments powered by AI, open science will pave the best way for additional exploration. JPL is now engaged on designs for potential future Mars helicopters which are much more succesful and complicated than Ingenuity. Payload mass, flight vary, and affordability are on the forefront of their minds.

Current open-source instruments will assist tackle these issues. Not solely are open-source functions free to make use of, however the great amount of collaboration in creating and testing them implies that they’re usually extremely dependable.

Finally, the JPL staff views its work as a part of the cycle of open science, utilizing open instruments to make its job simpler whereas additionally creating new options within the instruments for others to make use of sooner or later.

“Each mission is contributing again to the opposite missions and future missions when it comes to new instruments and strategies to develop,” Calef stated. “It isn’t simply you engaged on one thing. It is with the ability to share knowledge between individuals … getting a better order of science.”