Driving a Rover on Mars Using theRover Sequencing and Visualization Program

摘要

Operating a rover on Mars is not possible using teleoperations due to the distance involvedand the bandwidth limitations. Instead, rovers are autonomous and go about their operations in anunsupervised mode. To operate these rovers requires sophisticated tools to make operatorsknowledgeable of the terrain, hazards, features of interest, and rover state and limitations, and tosupport building command sequences and rehearsing expected operations. The primary requirementis to rapidly convey the optimal level of situational awareness to the operators to support daily cyclesof operations and commanding. This paper discusses how the Rover Sequencing and VisualizationProgram and a small set of associated tools support this requirement.