Smart rotorcraft field assistants for terrestrial and planetary science

Author

Young, Lany A. ; Aiken, Edwin W. ; Briggs, Geoffrey A.

Author_Institution

Army-NASA Rotorcraft Div., NASA Ames Res. Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA

Volume

1

fYear

2004

fDate

6-13 March 2004

Abstract

Field science in extreme terrestrial environments is often difficult and sometimes dangerous. Field seasons are also often short in duration. Robotic "field assistants," particularly small highly mobile rotary-wing platforms, have the potential to significantly augment a field season\´s scientific return on investment for geology and astrobiology researchers by providing an entirely new suite of sophisticated field tools. Robotic rotorcraft and other vertical lift planetary aerial vehicle also hold promise for supporting planetary science missions.

Keywords

aerospace robotics; helicopters; intelligent robots; planetary rovers; space vehicles; astrobiology researchers; extreme terrestrial environment; field science; geology researchers; planetary aerial vehicle; planetary science missions; robotic field assistant; robotic rotorcraft; rotary-wing platform; scientific return on investment; smart rotorcraft field assistant; terrestrial science; vertical lift; Focusing; Geology; Investments; Legged locomotion; Mars; Mobile robots; NASA; Remotely operated vehicles; Robotics and automation; Unmanned aerial vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Aerospace Conference, 2004. Proceedings. 2004 IEEE

ISSN

1095-323X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8155-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AERO.2004.1367616

Filename

1367616