Autonomous Robotics for Resource Mapping to Enable In-Situ Resource Utilization

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The ability to take advantage of the materials available on the moon, Mars, or asteroids will be of great benefit to space exploration missions. Required payloads would be smaller as supplies would be available at the mission site. This would allow for much less expensive missions as the launch fuel-to-payload weight ratio is greater than 9:1. This would also free up valuable payload space for other instruments and tools, allowing more effective and higher return missions to be undertaken. In the case of potential manned missions, networks of resource extractors would be launched long before the manned launch. Simultaneous, parallel robotic missions would collect oxygen, water or fuel at various locations thus greatly improving the safety of the crew launched later. This procedure can certainly continue for the duration of the manned mission itself, providing a continuous supply of resources needed by the astronauts. Prior to any consideration of the utilization of material from within an unknown environment, resources must first be located and identified. Once that is accomplished, an extraction site must be identified to maximize the expected yield of the resource. The final problem, as the resource site may be far from the base or landing site for the mission, is the preparation of transport paths between these two locations. The main goal of the proposed research is to develop the necessary expertise and scientific knowledge to develop a network of cooperating autonomous robotic systems to demonstrate the ability to locate the desired resources within a large, unstructured and unknown environment and prepare the site for further resource extraction for space missions as might be utilised on the moon, Mars or an asteroid. The benefits of this technology are not limited to space applications. A broad spectrum of terrestrial applications could be well served by the enabling technology for in-situ resource extraction. The applications include mining and resource collection on earth as well as the virtually unlimited potential of networks of cooperative networks of autonomous robotics. Explosive-mine clearing, search and rescue, scientific and other exploration of hazardous environments, and sanitation of large scale areas are just a few of the possibilities.