From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Sat Aug 02 2003 - 10:56:56 PDT
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/pittsburgh/s_147733.html
CMU robot excels in test for finding life on Mars
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, August 2, 2003
In a Chilean desert with a terrain similar to that of Mars, a robot developed by Carnegie Mellon University has outperformed others in a simulated quest to find life on other planets.
"We basically doubled all our goals," said David Wettergreen, a research scientist at the Oakland university's Robotics Institute. "It traveled farther. We collected more science information, and we completed more of the science experiments than I expected to."
Wettergreen and other scientists from Carnegie Mellon and NASA discussed the test, conducted in April, in the Atacama Desert of Chile. They shared their experience during a three-day workshop on campus that ended Wednesday. The researchers also talked about plans for the next two years.
Carnegie Mellon is among universities and agencies helping to develop the technology that will enable NASA to search for life on Mars.
NASA has given CMU a $3 million grant over three years to develop the rover and another $900,000 grant to create a system for identifying life on other planets.
"If you find life on another planet in a system of nine, that tells you a lot about life in the universe," said Nathalie Cabrol, the project science leader for NASA's Ames Research Center.
CMU's robot is called Hyperion -- named after a titan in Greek mythology who was the father of the sun god.
The rover uses solar panels as big as a sheet of plywood to store energy in its batteries. Two cameras detect obstacles, and another two cameras transmit images of samples that the crew may want to check for signs of life.
Alan Waggoner, director of Carnegie Mellon's Molecular Biosensor and Imaging Center, heads the team developing the life-detecting system.
One approach is to shine specific wavelengths of light on any chlorophyll -- a pigment that makes plants green -- that might be present and might detect fluorescent emissions.
Another approach involves spraying fluorescent dyes on a specimen to check for four signs of life -- proteins, DNA, cell membranes and carbohydrates. If a sample were glow when ultraviolet light is shone on it, that may indicate life -- but not necessarily.
The dyes will recognize life only from living or recently alive specimens, Waggoner said. They will not recognize fossils.
"If it varies too much from life we know on Earth, our fluorescent dyes may not recognize it," Waggoner said, citing another problem.
Two years ago, an earlier model of Hyperion was tested on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic. The island was strewn with rock from a meteorite crash 23 million years ago -- offering a surface similar to some places on Mars.
The Atacama Desert in Chile was chosen because of its arid conditions, sandy soil and extreme ultraviolet radiation -- conditions similar to those on the red planet. It has not rained in the Atacama Desert for thousands of years.
CMU researchers said they were pleased with Hyperion's performance in the desert. They had hoped ahead of time that Hyperion could travel 6.2 miles in the desert autonomously -- that is, do one task on just one command -- and could collect 10 complete sets of data from each of its instruments.
The rover exceeded expectations -- having traveled more than 12 miles and having produced 27 data sets.
Wettergreen said CMU must modify the robot for its next test. Hyperion will return to the Atacama Desert in September 2004.
The rover will need more efficient solar cells and batteries to store energy and new software to determine where it is so that it can move by itself. And it no longer will move on mountain bicycle tires.
"It needs larger tires so it doesn't sink into the sand," Wettergreen said.
Meanwhile, two rovers not designed by CMU -- Spirit and Opportunity -- will land on Mars in January to determine if the planet ever had an environment favorable for life. NASA has said it hopes to begin actually looking for life on Mars in 2009.
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos_at_tribweb.com or (412) 320-7828.
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