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Drone in the Negev desert: the landscape is like the surface of Mars in its monotony
Photo:
Amir Cohen / REUTERS
In Israel's Negev desert, researchers want to sharpen the navigation technology of autonomous Mars helicopters and drones.
"There is no GPS on Mars, so the drones and helicopters have to orientate themselves to prominent points on the planet's surface," says Christian Brommer from the Control of Networked Systems research group at the University of Klagenfurt in Austria.
The Negev desert is ideal for the tests, as its surface is very similar to that of Mars. The “Ingenuity” helicopter currently in use on Mars is already using this navigation technology, which was co-developed in Klagenfurt. It should now be further refined. For this purpose, a three-kilogram drone with its four rotors and a span of two meters was equipped with high-precision cameras.
"The casting of shadows is an important feature for an image suitable for navigation on a rather monotonous surface," says Brommer. The algorithm must be able to analyze that. In general, autonomously operating aircraft will be a very central aid for exploring the Red Planet. "They are crucial for the astronauts' forward planning of trips to Mars." The data collected will also be made available to the US space agency Nasa.
Brommer is head of the drone project in the research team around the so-called analog astronauts of the Austrian Space Forum (ÖWF), who simulate a stay on Mars.
The six analog astronauts from Austria, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain will work for four weeks from Monday around the Ramon crater in the Negev desert, isolated from the outside world.
The analog astronauts are supported by the Mission Support Center in Innsbruck and by 200 researchers from 25 countries.
In order to simulate the signal propagation time between Mars and Earth, a ten-minute delay is built into the communication between Israel and Austria.
ime / dpa
