Tool for Autonomous Terrain Exploration of Remote Space

The proposed effort is a framework that supports long-term autonomous exploration efforts in unknown spaces by developing state-of-the art methods to facilitate rapid iteration and customization of search strategies for missions that have little a-priori information.nbsp; The Tool for Autonomous Terrain Exploration of Remote Spaces (TATERS) is a flexible software system that allows researchers and mission designers to reduce the risk of exploration and give them the adaptability to easily pivot strategies as new mission data becomes available.nbsp; This technology will help to accelerate mission times, optimize in-situ resources, and develop new search behaviors.nbsp; TATERS will be able to adapt to new situational awareness information, automatically run scenarios, and produce defined metrics that quantify exploration performance. nbsp;TATERS will consist of 1) a software framework to test applications of search strategies of heterogenous teams 2) the ability to adapt to new information as it becomes available 3) the ability to parametrically modify search parameters and report defined metrics and 4) an initial set of search strategies targeted for the lunar environment and mapping of volatiles.