Swarms for Sampling and Detection of Life in Caves on Earth and in Space

主要目标：-设计和测试一群机器人，用于采样和探测地球上洞穴中的生命-优化群体行为/设计，以找到洞穴中生命的最有力证据-使用野外工作测试结果，为未来利用羊群探索行星洞穴的太空任务提供设计建议洞穴是地球上最后两个剩余的探索前沿之一，它们提供了一个保存得令人难以置信的完好的采样环境，具有很高的科学价值。然而，由于涉及的风险和进入洞穴的困难，洞穴的特征并不是很好。一群机器人在应对洞穴探险带来的众多挑战(有限的感官信息、不可预测的地形、GPS无法定位的环境等)方面装备精良。蜂群将被设计和优化，通过从洞穴不同区域采集的多个测量和样本来探测生命，这提供了比单个机器人更高水平的证据，证明这些洞穴中存在生命。群体还具有相关的应用，如化学羽流追踪和水平岩心采样能力，并有现成的/简单的仪器，如试纸，用于检测生命中常见的物质。从这些洞穴中收集的新样本可以深入了解以前未见过的具有潜在医学应用的微生物学，并有助于越来越多的证据表明洞穴中存在显著的生物多样性。蜂群还可以扩大到对洞穴进行地质采样，这将揭示我们对气候历史的新见解。未来的太空探索任务优先考虑洞穴作为高价值的天体生物目标，最有可能探测到生命迹象，由于辐射屏蔽，洞穴很可能被用于未来的太空定居。这项研究缩小了未来天体生物太空任务中利用蜂群探测行星洞穴中生命的技术开发差距。

Main Objectives: - Design and test a swarm of robots for the sampling and the detection of life in caves on Earth- Optimise swarm behaviour/design to find the strongest possible evidence for life in caves- Use fieldwork testing results to provide design suggestions for future space missions that explore planetary cavesusing swarmsCaves are one of the last two remaining frontiers for exploration on Earth and they provide an incredibly well-preserved sampling environment that's of high scientific value. However, caves are not well characterised due to the risks involved,and the difficulties to access them. A swarm of robots are well equipped at dealing with the numerous challenges (limited sensory information, unpredictable terrain, GPS denied environment, and so on) posed by cave exploration. The swarm would be designed and optimised to detect life through multiple measurements and samples taken from different areas of the cave, which provides a higher level of evidence for the existence of life within these caves than a single robot is capable of. Swarms also have relevant applications such as chemical plume tracing and horizontal core sampling capabilities, and there is readily available/simple instrumentation, such as test strips, for the detection of substances common to life. The new samples collected from these caves could provide insight into previously unseen microbiology with potential medicinal applications, and contributes to the growing body of evidence showing significant biological diversity in caves. The swarm could also be extended for geological sampling of the caves, which would reveal new insight into the history of our climate. Future space exploration missions prioritise caves as high value Astrobiological targets with the best chance to detect signs of life, and caves are likely to be used for future space settlements due to radiation shielding. This research closes the gap in technological development for future Astrobiological space missions to detect life in planetary caves utilising swarms.