Researchers claim that small robot ships could map uncharted Mars lava
tunnels by occasionally releasing breadcrumb-like sensors onto cave
floors.
Researchers from the University of Arizona have created small robots that
leave digital breadcrumbs while investigating Martian caverns as a potential
new method of scoping out properties on other worlds. It's a technique taken
directly out of tradition.
The rover will be carrying tiny instruments that resemble breadcrumbs. The
rover will deploy a sensor as it moves through an uncharted cave system,
keep moving through the system, and then deploy a new sensor when the signal
from the previous sensor starts to wane. Drop a monitor, tour the tunnel,
then do it again. Through the sensors' underground information being sent
back to a mother rover sitting on the surface, this effort maps the tunnel
system. In an
article
released in Advances in Space Research last month, the technology is
described in depth.
Lead author Wolfgang Fink stated in a University of Arizona
press release, "One of the new aspects is what we call opportunistic deployment—the idea
that you deploy the 'breadcrumbs' when you have to and not according to a
previously planned schedule. At the University of Arizona, Fink teaches
electrical and computer engineering.
The breadcrumbs will act as points in a vast network that will provide
details on how various underground systems are laid out. By sending data to
and through each node in the network, which will produce a strong signal and
prevent gaps in the network if a node fails, this network will enable the
nodes to transmit data back to the mother rover on the planet's surface.
Since the data is relayed wirelessly, it also eliminates the need to remove
the rovers from the caverns at the conclusion of their assignment, saving
time and resources.
In the press release, co-author Mark Tarbell, a study scientist at the
University of Arizona, said, "They can swap between each other and adjust
for dead areas and signal blackouts. The mother rover never loses connection
to the network's farthest node if some of the nodes perish because
communication still exists through the surviving nodes.
A innovative approach to long-term living is one of the motivations behind
the wish to investigate cave systems. The Moon's pits, which scientists
recently discovered keep pleasant temps, might make a great place for future
crewed expeditions to camp out. Similar to Earth, worlds like Mars can have
extensive tunnel systems that could be inhabited by astronauts because they
provide shelter from the planet's thin atmosphere and harsh surface
conditions.
According to Fink, "lava tubes and caverns would make ideal homes for
astronauts because you don't need to construct a building; you are protected
from harmful cosmic radiation, so all you need to do is make it beautiful
and cozy," said Fink in the press release.
Additionally, according to Fink and his coworkers, this methodology might
be used to explore planets with large oceans or lakes. Submersibles could
transmit exploration data to a lander floating on the surface using a long
cable, with the nodes en route boosting the signal. After a natural
disaster, such as the Turkiye earthquake in 2023, the network and rovers
could also help with search and rescue operations on Earth.
All of this serves to highlight how theoretical Fink and his colleagues'
research is. The next stage is to actually construct the device that will
deliver the breadcrumbs. The team has constructed the rovers and the
technology to enable them to interact with one another.
