The ROASTT-2019 training exercise for the Mars 2020 Science Team
Abstract
The Mars 2020 Science Team is carrying out a series of training exercises called Rover Operations Activities for Science Team Training (ROASTT) intended to give the team practice in science operations decision-making prior to the mission's arrival at Mars in February 2021. The team's second ROASTT exercise, conducted in January and February 2019, involved realistic science data, acquired in response to decisions made during the operations exercise, provided by a field team stationed at an analog site on Earth.
ROASTT-2019 began with a 'Campaign Planning' process during which science objectives and a multi-sol (Martian solar day) plan were developed for the simulated rover investigation at a pre-selected (though unknown to the team) sedimentary outcrop at Owl Canyon near Barstow, CA. Preparation of this campaign plan was a prerequisite for two daily operations processes carried out for five sols termed 'Campaign Implementation' and 'Tactical.' Campaign Implementation determines how the campaign plan will be executed once the rover arrives at the outcrop, discussing recent data and preparing draft activity plans. The Tactical process is concerned with finalizing the plan for the coming sol including details of all activities and measurements. The exercise employed prototype versions of relevant operations tools, allowing the science team to inspect, visualize, and request data using methods similar to those planned for the surface mission. Participants primarily participated remotely, using online collaborative tools for planning and instrument targeting, as will be the case for much of the Mars 2020 mission. A key goal of the exercise was understanding how 'science intent' - the rationale, goals, and significance of particular investigations and the observations that address them - was passed between the different ops processes and from sol-to-sol. The experience allowed a review and revision of the design of the ops processes and tools to respond to observations of intent transmission within the exercise.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.P33G3506F
- Keywords:
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- 0406 Astrobiology and extraterrestrial materials;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 6225 Mars;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS;
- 6304 Benefit-cost analysis;
- POLICY SCIENCES;
- 6329 Project evaluation;
- POLICY SCIENCES