Robotic astrobiology involves the remote projection of intelligent capabilities to planetary missions in the search for life, preferably with human-level intelligence. Planetary rovers would be true human surrogates capable of sophisticated decision-making to enhance their scientific productivity. We explore several key aspects of this capability: (i) visual texture analysis of rocks to enable their geological classification and so, astrobiological potential; (ii) serendipitous target acquisition whilst on the move; (iii) continuous extraction of regolith properties, including water ice whilst on the move; and (iv) deep learning-capable Bayesian net expert systems. Individually, these capabilities will provide enhanced scientific return for astrobiology missions, but together, they will provide full autonomous science capability.

Geomagnetic data gathering by micro-rovers is gaining momentum both for future planetary exploration missions and for terrestrial applications in extreme environments. This paper presents research into the integration of a planetary micro-rover with a potassium total-field magnetometer. The 40 kg Kapvik micro-rover is an ideal platform due to an aluminium construction and a rocker-bogie mobility system, which provides good manoeuvrability and terrainability. A light-weight GSMP 35U (uninhabited aerial vehicle) magnetometer, comprised of a 0.65 kg sensor and 0.63 kg electronics module, was mounted to the chassis via a custom 1.21 m composite boom. The boom dimensions were optimized to be an effective compromise between noise mitigation and mechanical practicality. An analysis using the fourth difference method was performed estimating the magnetic noise envelope at ±0.03 nT at 10 Hz sampling frequency from the integrated systems during robotic operations. A robotic magnetic survey captured the total magnetic intensity along three parallel 40 m long lines and a perpendicular 15 m long tie line over the course of 3.75 h. The total magnetic intensity data were corrected for diurnal variations, levelled by linear interpolation of tie-line intersection points, corrected for a regional gradient, and then interpolated using Delaunay triangulation to lead a residual magnetic intensity map. This map exhibited an anomalous linear feature corresponding to a magnetic dipole 650 nT in amplitude. This feature coincides with a storm sewer buried approximately 2 m in the subsurface. This work provides benchmark methodologies and data to guide future integration of magnetometers on board planetary micro-rovers.

The detection of atmospheric methane on Mars implies an active methane source. This introduces the possibility of a biotic source with the implied need to determine whether the methane is indeed biotic in nature or geologically generated. There is a clear need for robotic algorithms which are capable of manoeuvring a rover through a methane plume on Mars to locate its source. We explore aspects of Mars methane plume modelling to reveal complex dynamics characterized by advection and diffusion. A statistical analysis of the plume model has been performed and compared to analyses of terrestrial plume models. Finally, we consider a robotic search strategy to find a methane plume source. We find that gradient-based techniques are ineffective, but that more sophisticated model-based search strategies are unlikely to be available in near-term rover missions.

The remote operation of an asset with time-delays short enough to allow for ‘real-time’ or near real-time control – often referred to as low-latency teleoperations (LLT) – has important potential to address planetary protection concerns and to enhance astrobiology exploration. Not only can LLT assist with the search for extraterrestrial life and help mitigate planetary protection concerns as required by international treaty, but it can also aid in the real-time exploration of hazardous areas, robotically manipulate samples in real-time, and engage in precise measurements and experiments without the presence of crew in the immediate area. Furthermore, LLT can be particularly effective for studying ‘Special Regions’ – areas of astrobiological interest that might be adversely affected by forward contamination from humans or spacecraft contaminants during activities on Mars. LLT can also aid human exploration by addressing concerns about backward contamination that could impact mission details for returning Martian samples and crew back to Earth.This paper provides an overview of LLT operational considerations and findings from recent NASA analyses and workshops related to planetary protection and human missions beyond Earth orbit. The paper focuses primarily on three interrelated areas of Mars operations that are particularly relevant to the planetary protection and the search for life: Mars orbit-to-surface LLT activities; Crew-on-surface and drilling LLT; and Mars surface science laboratory LLT. The paper also discusses several additional mission implementation considerations and closes with information on key knowledge gaps identified as necessary for the advance of LLT for planetary protection and astrobiology purposes on future human missions to Mars.

The development of algorithms for agile science and autonomous exploration has been pursued in contexts ranging from spacecraft to planetary rovers to unmanned aerial vehicles to autonomous underwater vehicles. In situations where time, mission resources and communications are limited and the future state of the operating environment is unknown, the capability of a vehicle to dynamically respond to changing circumstances without human guidance can substantially improve science return. Such capabilities are difficult to achieve in practice, however, because they require intelligent reasoning to utilize limited resources in an inherently uncertain environment. Here we discuss the development, characterization and field performance of two algorithms for autonomously collecting water samples on VALKYRIE (Very deep Autonomous Laser-powered Kilowatt-class Yo-yoing Robotic Ice Explorer), a glacier-penetrating cryobot deployed to the Matanuska Glacier, Alaska (Mission Control location: 61°42′09.3″N 147°37′23.2″W). We show performance on par with human performance across a wide range of mission morphologies using simulated mission data, and demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithms at autonomously collecting samples with high relative cell concentration during field operation. The development of such algorithms will help enable autonomous science operations in environments where constant real-time human supervision is impractical, such as penetration of ice sheets on Earth and high-priority planetary science targets like Europa.

Recent work in developing self-replicating machines has approached the problem as an engineering problem, using engineering materials and methods to implement an engineering analogue of a hitherto uniquely biological function. The question is – can anything be learned that might be relevant to an astrobiological context in which the problem is to determine the general form of biology independent of the Earth. Compared with other non-terrestrial biology disciplines, engineered life is more demanding. Engineering a self-replicating machine tackles real environments unlike artificial life which avoids the problem of physical instantiation altogether by examining software models. Engineering a self-replicating machine is also more demanding than synthetic biology as no library of functional components exists. Everything must be constructed de novo. Biological systems already have the capacity to self-replicate but no engineered machine has yet been constructed with the same ability – this is our primary goal. On the basis of the von Neumann analysis of self-replication, self-replication is a by-product of universal construction capability – a universal constructor is a machine that can construct anything (in a functional sense) given the appropriate instructions (DNA/RNA), energy (ATP) and materials (food). In the biological cell, the universal construction mechanism is the ribosome. The ribosome is a biological assembly line for constructing proteins while DNA constitutes a design specification. For a photoautotroph, the energy source is ambient and the food is inorganic. We submit that engineering a self-replicating machine opens up new areas of astrobiology to be explored in the limits of life.