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Embargoed for 12pm, Thursday 4th October 2007

Balloons lift expectations for planetary exploraration

Aerobots – self-navigating, robotic sensors hoisted by balloons – will play a vital role in future planetary missions, according to researchers at the University of Aberystwyth. The results of recent studies were presented today at the University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Observatory, as part of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik.

The Lovell Telescope was the only instrument in the Western World that was powerful enough to transmit a signal that could be bounced off the debris from the rocket and detect the faint echo. In the 48 hours after the news of Sputnik's launch, scientists at Jodrell Bank built a transmitter for the telescope and then attempted to pick up a signal. Just before midnight on 12th October 1957, a definite signal from the carrier rocket was located and tracked.

Dr Dave Barnes said: “Balloon based aerobots can fill a missing piece of the planetary exploration jigsaw, acting as a bridge between landers or rovers and orbiters. They are simple, low cost, efficient and incredibly versatile. They can carry out direct measurements of the atmosphere or act as a relay unit between a lander and an orbiter. In addition, their birds-eye view would be of immense help to autonomous rovers in identifying areas of scientific interest on a planet’s surface.”

The group at Aberystwyth have worked with the European Space Agency, the University of Leicester and the software company, SciSys, to develop and test prototype aerobots that could be used for a variety of mission scenarios, including free-flying, tethered to a rover or operating in a swarm.

Dr Barnes said: “Although using aerobots for planetary exploration is quite a recent idea, we are making very rapid advancements in developing software and prototypes. We should have technology available for the next launch opportunity windows for Mars in 2009-2013. In simulations and in demonstrations where we have flown actual aerobots at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Holland, we’ve shown that the aerobots are now able to spot and classify points of scientific interest on the surface. The onboard processors also allow the aerobots to pinpoint their exact location in real-time by comparing the features that they see with a digital elevation map created from orbiter data.”

Two designs of aerobot have been tested to date: a simple, spherical balloon and a hybrid balloon-kite system, known as a ‘helikite’. The kite element acts as a rudder, giving additional stability as well as additional lift from the prevailing wind. Metallic coatings for balloons in both the spherical and helikite set-ups can help increase altitudes reached by raising the internal temperature of the balloon. Tests at ESTEC have shown that an instrument package similar in mass to Beagle 2’s stereo cameras could be lifted on Mars by a balloon with a diameter of 7.2 metres. The total mass of such an aerobot, including the mass of the envelope, instrument, power supply and on-board computer would be just 3.5 kilograms, about a tenth of the mass of the Beagle 2 lander.

Initial tests have focused on Mars, which has a very low atmospheric density and low wind power values. Calculations show that tethering a balloon to a rover would be a feasible scenario. Except during dust storms, the forces exerted on the tether would be very small.

Dr Barnes said: “Deploying a balloon tethered to a lander or rover on Mars would give unique science opportunities. A camera with a field of view of just 60 degrees could observe an area of a square kilometre if hoisted to an altitude of around a kilometre. This would be an enormous help in planning a rover’s path and would also give very important data about the landing site, such as the meteorological conditions.”

“Mission software is the one subsystem you can update from Earth and so you can be smart in how you exploit this” Chris Lee of SciSys said. “For example we have been investigating how multiple aerobots and rovers can autonomously “cooperate” as a science survey team and so reduce risk for later manned excursions. And these techniques can be applied here on Earth – for example in Humanitarian conflicts”

Aberystwyth and SciSys have also developed aerobots that can fly in formation and exhibit swarming behaviour. Tests performed with three aerobots at Aberystwyth have shown the improved performance that can be obtained when aerobots cooperate. The aerobots were involved in a task that required them to work together to find objects on the ground.

Future work is planned for aerobots adapted for flight on Titan and Venus.

IMAGES

Artist's impression of an aerobot over Mars

Aerobot test at ESTEC

Aerobot test at ESTEC 1

Aerobot test at ESTEC 2

Aerobot test at ESTEC 3

Aerobot test at ESTEC 4

Video of a swarming test using three aerobots is available at: http://users.aber.ac.uk/dpb/swarming.html

An animation, produced by SciSys, of an aerobot flying over the Martian surface can be downloaded from: http://www.scisys.co.uk/technologies/space/tech_aerobot2.asp
http://www.scisys.co.uk/images/technologies/AerobotAnim_1_8_MPEG4.avi

FURTHER INFORMATION

Intelligent Robotics Group, University of Aberystwyth
Robotics research at Aberystwyth was established around 1980 and since that time the group has undertaken innovative research in collaboration with a variety of industrial and academic partners in the U.K. and overseas. Areas of research include space and planetary robotics, biologically inspired systems, motion analysis, machine learning, locomotion machine vision.
For further information see:
http://users.aber.ac.uk/dpb/aerobots.html
http://www.aber.ac.uk/compsci/Research/robots/

SciSys
SciSys is a leading developer of advanced software technology. It has over 25 years experience of providing mission critical solutions to the space industry. SciSys has been involved in two studies for 'Flagship' missions, the ExoMars Rover and Mars Sample Return and was part of the team that developed the Mission Control Systems for the Huygens probe, Mars and Venus Express. In 2004 SciSys won the role of prime contractor for an 18-month European Space Agency (ESA) study into the viability of planetary aerobots.
For further information see: http://www.scisys.co.uk/index.asp

CONTACTS

Dr Dave Barnes
Reader in Space and Planetary Robotics
Intelligent Robotics Group
Computer Science Department
University of Aberystwyth
Penglais, Aberystwyth
Ceredigion SY23 3DB
Wales, UK.
Tel: +44 01970 621561
Fax: +44 01970 622455
E-mail : dpb@aber.ac.uk
Web: http://users.aber.ac.uk/dpb/

Chris Lee
Sales and Marketing Manager
SciSys
23 Clothier Rd
Brislington
Bristol BS5 4SS, UK
Tel: +44 1179 717251
Mob: +44 (0)7715 159541
E-mail: Chris.Lee@scisys.co.uk
Web: http://www.scisys.co.uk

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