Digital

Terrestrial validation of geological analyses in PRo3D using an emulator for the ExoMars 2020 PanCam

Publikation aus Digital

R. Barnes, M. Gunn, S. Gupta, Gerhard Paar, C. Traxler, A. Bauer, B. Nauschnegg, T. Ortner, M. P. Perucha-Caballo

EPSC Abstracts, European Planetary Science Congress 2018 , 9/2018

Abstract:

The ExoMars 2020 Rover will use a panoramic stereo-camera system to image outcrops along its traverse, in order to characterise their geology and focus the search for ancient life. Photogrammetric reconstructions of these images are created using the Planetary Robotics Vision Processing tool (PRoViP)[1]. 3D Ordered Point Clouds (OPCs) of the reconstructed stereo images are visualized and interpreted in PRo3D [2], which has been tested using stereo-image data obtained by NASA’s MER and MSL rover missions [3][4][5]. The Aberystwyth University PanCam Emulator (AUPE), an emulator for the ExoMars 2020 Rover, has been developed to collect stereo-image data of outcrops in the UK which are analogous to those expected in the candidate landing sites [6]. Stereo-image panoramas collected with AUPE are rendered in PRo3D, and full geological analyses of these outcrops are carried out. The results are compared with detailed field investigation of the same outcrops, allowing us to understand the reliability of this data when the ExoMars 2020 Rover carries out its mission.