Canadian Partnership in the 2009 MARS SmartLander Mission

Computer Science – Robotics

Scientific paper

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Scientific paper

A year ago Canada initiated a major new thrust in its space program - Mars Exploration. One of the first significant Mars activities for Canada is the planned cooperation with NASA on the 2009 SmartLander mission. Two Canadian contributions have been identified for the NASA-led Mars Smart Lander mission: a Subsurface Sample Acquisition and Handling System (SAHS) and a LIDAR high-precision landing system. The SAHS is a major infrastructure element of the SmartLander and leverages Canadian expertise in both space robotics and mining technology. Its primary mission is to drill a hole to a depth of 10m, retrieve samples from a variety of depths, robotically perform a triage and primary analysis of the samples, as well as process and deliver these samples to scientific instruments. The LIDAR landing system is what gives the Lander its "Smart" capabilities. Using the return from scanning lasers, near real-time maps of the terrain are generated during descent from which the Lander can guide itself to a precise landing while avoiding obstacles. Engineering development of both systems is currently in progress. The Canadian Space Agency has contracted with MD Robotics to lead the Canadian industrial team for the SmartLander mission. This paper will give the current status of the Canadian Mars activities. The paper will also give details of the robotic and lidar systems being developed in Canada for the Mars SmartLander mission.

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