4.
A Sensor Arm For Robotic Antarctic Meteorite Search - Chris Urmson; Ben Shamah; James P. Teza; Michael D. Wagner; Dimitrios Apostolopoulos; William Red Whittaker; William “red Whittaker
: In January 2000 the Nomad robot searched an area of blue ice in Antarctica and autonomously classified 5 in-situ meteorites. The robotic capabilities of search and target identification, coupled with the scientific capabilities of analysis and classification of rocks in an extreme environment were made possible by the integration of many different technologies for both hardware and software. This paper focuses on the development and integration of the sensor arm used to deploy a spectrometer from a multi-meter scale robot to centimeter scale rocks. The sensor arm combines off the shelf hardware for motion control, actuation, and sensing. Available...
15.
The geophysical signatures and exploration potential of Australia's meteorite impact structures - Hawke, Philip James
[Truncated abstract. Please see the pdf version of the abstract for the complete text.] Thirty impact structures of confirmed or possible status are currently identified in Australia. Twenty-two of these structures are confirmed by the presence of meteorite fragments or shock metamorphic features that are diagnostic of meteorite impact. The remainder have an impact origin supported by strong secondary evidence. New impact structures are being discovered in Australia at a rate of about one every year, with geophysics a key tool in the identification of candidate structures for further investigation. It is estimated that between two and five times the...
16.
The Gold Basin Meteorite Strewn Field - James Richardson
eless, evidence still remained of the initial ablation
created fusion crust on portions of the stones. The next question to be answered was:
where there more?
Figure 2: Photograph of the Gold Basin area, west of Meadview, Arizona. The
landscape is dominated by Joshua trees and Yucca plants, nestled amid the (usually)
dry desert washes leading north to the Colorado River / Lake Mead. [courtesy
http://www.ctaz.com/~rvpark/Meteorites.htm]
Kriegh and Kring immediately set about organizing further expeditions to the Gold Basin
region, with a team primarily composed of Jim Kriegh, John Blennert, and Ingrid Monrad.
Over the course of the next few years, this team recovered more than 3000 meteorites
from the...
18.
Autonomous Robotic Meteorite Identification in Antarctica - William "red Whittaker,Liam Pedersen,Michael Wagner,Dimitrios Apostolopoulos
This paper describes the development and implementation
of a Bayes network based system for distinguishing
terrestrial rocks from meteorites from onboard the mobile
robotic rover Nomad. Equipped with a color camera and
spectrometer, Nomad autonomously made the first robotic
identification of a meteorite, in January 2000 at the
Elephant Moraine, Antarctica. This paper discusses rock
classification from a robotic platform and the challenges
of autonomously obtaining good sensor data in the field,
while focusing on Nomad implementation.
19.
Experimenter's Notebook: Robotic Search for Antarctic Meteorites 2000 Expedition - Michael D. Wagner
This document serves as an archive of expedition notes taken by Michael Wagner in January 2000
during the Robotic Search for Antarctic Meteorites expedition to Elephant Moraine, Antarctica.
The culmination of a three year effort developing Nomad as a robotic explorer occurred when
Nomad made the first meteorite discoveries by a robot. Through the use of autonomous science
target recognition, Bayesian classification techniques and mission planning, Nomad classified
meteorites while performing patterned searches. Three meteorites were autonomously found and
classified and, in total, five meteorites were classified correctly throughout the expedition. A total
of 42 samples were analyzed after 2500 m
20.
Robotic Antarctic Meteorite Search: Outcomes - Dimitrios S. Apostolopoulos,Liam Pedersen,Benjamin N. Shamah,Kimberly Shillcutt,Michael D. Wagner,William L. Whittaker
:
Automation of the search for and classification of Antarctic
meteorites offers a unique case for early demonstration of
robotics in a scenario analogous to geological exploratory
missions to other planets and to the Earth's extremes. Moreover,
the discovery of new meteorite samples is of great value because
meteorites are the only significant source of extraterrestrial
material available to scientists. In this paper we focus on the
primary outcomes and technical lessons learned from the first
field demonstration of autonomous search and in situ
classification of Antarctic meteorites by a robot. Using a novel
autonomous control architecture, specialized science sensing,
combined manipulation and visual servoing, and Bayesian
classification, the Nomad robot classified five...