Abstract
A recent paper proposed a detailed structure for a Mars Global
Terrain Database (MGTDB), for use in research on Mars, and populated with data
from the Mars Global Surveyor satellite, in polar orbit around Mars. The
database design allowed for 16.5 meters resolution or better everywhere, at a
cost of some 2,000 Gigabytes of data storage. An MGTDB also has another use,
not envisaged in the original paper. It can be used as the key component in a
Mars rover navigation system, to enable long-range rover navigation over the
Martian terrain, and so obviate the lack of magnetic poles on Mars as a basis
for navigation. This preliminary paper sets forth the basic architecture, as
well as the basic hardware and software concepts, for such a rover navigation
system. It also points out how a useful research prototype might be
constructed in the absence of both a finished MGTDB and a viable long-range
Mars rover. The paper also shows that some basic computer-science research
would likely be needed, to determine two quite different optimum search
algorithms. These algorithms are (a) a lost-search algorithm, which would be
needed as a basis for a lost-search subsystem that could determine the rover's
position when lost, and (b) a route-search algorithm, which would be needed
as a basis for a route-search subsystem that could generate the optimum route
between any two locations on the planet. If a future satellite-based Global
Positioning System (GPS) for Mars, like that in use in Earth, were ever to
render the lost-search subsystem obsolete, it would still have value as a
risk-preventive resource.
Notes
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