Overview

Figure 1

ExoMars Rover Model (Credits: ESA)

3D Vision for Panoramic Camera of ESA ExoMars mission 2018

Function

Coordinator

Description

ESA’s ExoMars Rover Mission is scheduled for launch 2018 and landing on the Red Planet in 2019 to search for signs of past and present life on Mars. One important scientific sensor is a panoramic imaging system (PanCam), mounted on the Rover Mast. It consists of a wide angle multispectral stereo pair and a high resolution monoscopic camera. Main objectives during its six months operational phase are the provision of context information to detect, locate and measure potential scientifically interesting targets, localize the landing site, geologically characterize the local environment, and observe experiments.

Three dimensional (3D) PanCam vision processing is an essential component of mission planning and scientific data analysis. Standard ground vision processing products will be digital terrain maps, panoramas, and virtual views of the environment. Such processing is currently developed by the PanCam 3D Vision Team under Joanneum Research coordination within the ASAP Projects “ExoMars PanCam-A” and “ExoMars PanCam 3D”, with background coming from the Mars Netlander Panoramic Camera (DLR) and the Beagle 2 camera system (MSSL, JR, and Univ. Wales). Camera calibration, quality estimation of the expected results and the interfaces to other mission elements such as operations planning, rover navigation system and global Mars mapping are a specific concern of the current work.

After landing in 2019 the resulting software tools and their processing products will be used by geologists, exobiologists and mission engineers to decide upon experiments, select scientifically interesting sites for the rover, and determine risks, resource costs and a priori success probability of vehicle operations: PanCam 3D vision is a key element of ExoMars mission success.

Project Duration

Current Development Phase July 2010 - December 2013

Main Partners

Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL), University College London, Dr. Andrew Coates www.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/www_plasma
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Institute of Planetary Research, Dr. Ralf Jaumann www.dlr.de/berlin

Department of Computer Science, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Dr. Dave Barnes www.aber.ac.uk/compsci/Research/robots

Funding

FFG/BMVIT Austrian Space Applications Programme ASAP 4

Joanneum Research http://www.joanneum.at

References

Griffiths, A, Coates, A, Muller, J, Storrie-Lombardi, M, Jaumann, R, Paar, JJ, and Barnes, D (2008).
Enhancing the effectiveness of the ExoMars PanCam instrument for astrobiology
In: Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 10, EGU2008-A-00000 EGU General Assembly 2008.

Paar, G, Oberst, J, Barnes, D, Griffiths, A, Jaumann, R, Coates, A, Muller, J, Y.Gao, and Li, R (2008).

ExoMars Panoramic Camera 3D Vision: Expected Quality of Rover Surroundings Description

In: Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 10, EGU2008-A-07337, 2008 SRef-ID: 1607-7962/gra/EGU2008-A-07337 EGU General Assembly 2008.

Paar, G, Barnes, DP, Oberst, J, Griffiths, A, Rueffer, P, Coates, AJ, Muller, JP, Gao, Y, and Jaumann, R (2007).

Quality Assessment of ExoMars PanCam 3D Reconstruction

Miscellaneous publication, Poster at EMSEC 2007 European Mars Science and Exploration Conference, ESTEC Nordwijk, NL.

Barnes, D, Shaw, A, Summers, P, Woods, M, Ward, R, Evans, M, Paar, G, and Sims, M (2006).

Autonomous Image Based Localisation For A Martian Aerobot

In: ISPRS Symposion “From Sensors to Imagery”, Paris, July 3-6, 2006.

Griffiths, AD, Coates, AJ, Jaumann, R, Michaelis, H, Paar, G, Barnes, D, Josset, J, and Team, tP (2006).

Context for the ESA ExoMars rover: the Panoramic Camera (PanCam) instrument

International Journal of Astrobiology, forthcomming article:1-7.

Paar, G, Griffiths, A, Barnes, D, Coates, A, Jaumann, R, Oberst, J, A.Ellery, Y, and Li, R (2006).

Panoramic 3d Vision on the ExoMars Rover

In: EuroPlanet, September 18-22, 2006, Berlin., pp. 295 pp.

Griffiths, A, Coates, A, Josset, J, Paar, G, Hofmann, B, Pullan, D, Rueffer, P, Sims, M, and Pillinger, C (2005).

The Beagle 2 stereo camera system

Planetary and Space ScienceDecember 2005, Vol 53/14-15:1466-1482.

Paar, G, Griffiths, A, Barnes, D, Coates, A, and Bauer, A (2005).

The Beagle 2 Camera Heritage for Pasteur

Geophysical Research Abstracts - European Geosciences Union, 7 - 06815(SRef-ID: 1607-7962/gra/EGU05-A-06815):7.

Barnes, D, Shaw, A, Summers, P, Ward, R, Woods, M, Evans, M, Paar, G, and Sims, M (2003).

Imaging and Localisation Software Demonstrator for Planetary Aerobots

In: Fifth IAA International Conference on Low-Cost Planetary Missions, 24-26 September 2003, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

Barnes, D, Shaw, A, Summers, P, Ward, R, Woods, M, Evans, M, Paar, G, and Sims, M (2004).

Imaging and Localisation Package for a Martian Balloon Based Aerobot

In: 8th ESA Workshop on Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Automation, 'ASTRA 2004' –Nov. 2-4 2004, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, pp. 8.

Woods, M, Evans, M, Ward, R, Barnes, D, Shaw, A, Summers, P, Paar, G, and Sims, M (2004).

Developing an autonomous imaging and localisation capabilty for planetary aerobots

In: 5th IFAC/EURON Symposium on Intelligent Autonomous Vehicles - IAV2004 Jully 5 - 7, 2004 Lisbon, Portugal.

Barnes, D, Phillips, N, and Paar, G (2003).

Beagle2 Simulation and Calibration for Ground Segment Operations

In: 7th International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space, Nara, Japan, May 19-23, 2003.

Barnes, D, Shaw, A, Summers, P, RogerWard, MarkWoods, Evans, M, Paar, G, and Sims, M (2006).

Imaging and localisation software demonstrator for planetary aerobots

Acta Astronautica, 59:1062 – 1070.

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