Gone with the Wind ON_Mars (GOWON): A Wind-Driven Networked System of Mobile Sensors on Mars

Details Gone with the Wind ON_Mars (GOWON): A Wind-Driven Networked System of Mobile Sensors on Mars Gone with the Wind ON_Mars (GOWON): A Wind-Driven Networked System of Mobile Sensors on Mars

2012-02-17

arxiv.org/abs/1202.3847v1

Physics

Instrumentation and Detectors

Scientific paper

We propose a revolutionary way of studying the surface of Mars using a wind-driven network of mobile sensors- Gone with the Wind ON_Mars (GOWON). GOWON is a scalable architecture that will allow in-situ mapping of a wide range of phenomena, exploiting existing capabilities, but radically improving our ability to study Mars. GOWON has the following characteristics: 1.it consists of a dynamic wireless network of many compact mobile sensors. 2.the mobile sensors (called moballs) are spherically-shaped and wind-driven; they are lightweight and bouncy. 3. moballs communicate with each other and earth through a satellite system orbiting Mars. There is also peer-to-peer communication between the moballs, creating a network of shared data, computing, and tasks. Motivation and Rationale Thanks to earlier exploration missions to Mars we now have a much better understanding of many of the natural characteristics of the red planet. We now know that there is an abundance of wind (with average speeds of 10 m/s and much higher maximum speeds [1]), dust storms, high levels of saltation [2], crustal magnetic fields generated by an abundance of ferromagnetic minerals and rocks [3], etc. Future Mars missions must therefore attempt to leverage these characteristics, and must do so by exploiting recent advances in low power micro-devices using MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems that harvest vibration and other movement into energy) technologies and others, miniature cameras, miniature wet chemistry labs, integrated circuits, low power wireless devices, etc. We believe the system proposed here addresses this opportunity heads on. Our proposed system is much more than a collection of sensors; the system is larger than the sum of its parts. In addition to communicating with the satellite, the moballs can communicate with each other and therefore distribute tasks, data, computations, etc.

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