IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENT TECHNOLOGIES FOR PLANETARY EXPLORATION WITH APPLICATIONS FOR MIXED REALITY

摘要

Immersive environments are successfully being used to support mission operations at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This technology contributed to the Mars Pathfinder Mission in planning sorties for the Sojourner rover. Results and operational experiences with these tools are being incorporated into the development of the second generation of mission planning tools. NASA's current plan includes two rovers being deployed to Mars in 2003, landing in early 2004. The next generation Rover Sequencing and Visualization Program (RSVP) utilizes existing technologies from Pathfinder, and more, to provide a multimodal, collaborative, partially immersive environment for mission planning. This system includes tools for planning long range sorties for highly autonomous rovers, tools for building the three-dimensional (3D) models of the terrain being explored, and advanced tools for visualizing telemetry from remote spacecraft and landers. These tools comprise a system for immersing the operator in the environment of another planet, body, or space to make the mission planning function more intuitive and effective. This paper describes the set of tools that will be utilized to provide the immersive capability within the RSVP, including terrain modelling, visualization with overlaid iconosymbology, simulation and rehearsal capability, and integration of actual rover telemetry. Applications of these technologies to mixed reality environments are discussed.