In this thesis, the relay communication between landed assets on the surface of Mars via a relay orbiter to Earth is studied for its latencies and the times which can be provided for the landed asset to work and for the ground to plan depending on the operational margins, the available ground station network and the available relay orbiters. In this context, an automated solver is developed to evaluate a locally optimal strategy of relay pass assignment respecting the different constraints and is proven to provide a solution close to the globally optimal one. The solver is determining the link opportunities and reasons on them, by minimising a cost function for each relay pass and choosing the cheapest ones in an iterative process. With this solver, it is shown that the best operational approach is to await commands confirmation and to provide the possibility of resending corrupted files. Moreover, it is shown that a 24/7 ground station coverage should be ideally provided, on which priority for booking should be given to relay missions since they depend on the actual timing of the orbiter overflights over the lander. Further- more, it is shown that adding additional relay orbiters increases the solution space drastically, making it desirable to use them. The possibility to restrict cross-agency support is assessed, showing that cross-support is still eligible. Finally, the data volume is shown to be sufficient to fulfil the ExoMars Rover and Surface Platform mission requirements, when using multiple orbiters, even though the solver itself would need extra capabilities to cope with allocating appropriate relay passes.

Les travaux présentés dans ce manuscrit sont consacrés à l'étudie du un petit instrument sophistiqué de mesure d'épaisseur optique : ODS (Optical Depth Sensor) a été conçu pour étudier l'atmosphère martienne et terrestre. L'une de ses principales missions consiste à fournir des mesures journalières de l'épaisseur optique des aérosols (AOD: Aerosol Optical Depth) et de détecter et caractériser les nuages optiquement minces à l'aube et au crépuscule. Les méthodes d'analyses sont basées sur l'utilisation de tables d'intensité reproduisant les signaux observés ODS en fonction de différents paramètres clés. Ces tables ont été réalisées à l'aide d'un code de transfert radiatif dans une géométrie en plans parallèles pour l'estimation de l'opacité des poussières, tandis que les propriétés des nuages sont issues d'un modèle de type Monte-Carlo en géométrie sphérique. Le premier objectif de ce travail a consisté à développer les algorithmes d'analyses nécessaires à l'étude du signal d'ODS. / The work presented in this manuscript is devoted to the development of reliable retrieval procedures for a lightweight and sophisticated optical depth sensor (ODS) which measures alternatively scattered flux at zenith and the sum of the direct flux and the scattered flux in the blue and red wavelength ranges. The ODS sensor is dedicated to Mars and Earth atmosphere and its principal goals are perform measurements of the daily mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) and retrieve the altitude and optical depth of high altitude clouds at twilight. The retrieval procedure is based on the use of look-up tables of intensities reproducing the signals that should be observed by ODS, as a function of different key parameters. For the estimation of AOD, the look-up tables are obtained by using a plane-parallel radiative transfer code, while for the study of cloud properties a Monte-Carlo radiative transfer code in spherical geometry is used.

No / Morphological biosignatures (features related to life) and associated terrestrial sedimentary structures that provide possible sampling targets for the remote astrobiological exploration of planets have been analysed using Raman spectroscopic techniques. The spectral data from a suite of samples comprising crypto-chasmoendoliths, preserved microbial filaments and relict sedimentary structures comprise a preliminary database for the establishment of key Raman biosignatures. This will form the basis for the evaluation of prototype miniaturised instrumentation for the proposed ESA ExoMars mission scheduled for 2013. The Raman spectral biosignatures of carotenoids and scytonemin, organic biomolecules characteristic of the cyanobacterial colonisation of geological matrices and biogeologically modified minerals are also identifiable in the sedimentary specimen materials. The results of this study demonstrate the basis of the molecular recognition of extinct and extant exobiology that will feed into the elemental structural analyses of morphological structures provided by associated SEM, XRD and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) techniques on robotic analytical landers.

Dans le cadre du programme ExoMars, l’ESA va déployer un rover sur Mars dont la mission sera de réaliser des prélèvements d’échantillons par forage souterrain et les analyser à l’aide des instruments scientifiques embarqués. Pour atteindre en toute sécurité les différents points d’intérêt où seront effectués ces prélèvements, le rover devra être capable de parcourir plus de 70 mètres par sol (jour martien) tout en respectant les limitations des communications interplanétaires. Les performances des algorithmes de navigation autonome embarqués impacteront directement la réussite scientifique de cette mission. Le premier objectif de cette thèse est d’améliorer les performances de l’architecture de planification de chemin local itératif proposée par le CNES. Tout d’abord, l’utilisation d’un planificateur incrémental de chemin local ”Fringe Retrieving A∗” permettant de réduire la charge de calcul est proposée. Il est complété par l’introduction de tas binaires dans les structures de gestion de la liste de priorité du planificateur de chemin.Ensuite, les manœuvres de rotation sur place pendant l’exécution des trajectoires sont réduites à l’aide d’un planificateur de chemins non-holonomes. Ce planificateur utilise un ensemble de chemins pré-calculés en tenant compte des capacités de braquage du rover. Le second axe de recherche concerne la planification de chemin global d’un rover d’exploration planétaire. Dans un premier temps, la contrainte de mémoire embarquée est détendue et une étude statistique évalue la pertinence d’un planificateur de chemin de type D∗ lite. Dans un deuxième temps, une nouvelle représentation multi-résolution de la carte de navigation est proposée pour stocker de plus grandes zones explorées par le rover sans augmenter l’utilisation de la mémoire embarquée. Cette représentation est utilisée par la suite par un planificateur de chemin global qui réduit automatiquement la charge de calcul en adaptant le sens de recherche en fonction de la forme et de la distribution des obstacles dans l’espace de navigation. / ESA’s ExoMars mission will deploy a 300kg class rover on Mars, which will serveas a mobile platform for the onboard scientific instruments to reach safely desired locations where subsurface drilling and scientific measurements are scheduled. Due to the limited inter-planetary communication constraints, full autonomous on board navigation capabilities are crucial as the rover has to drive over 70 meters per sol(Martian day) to reach designated scientific sites. The core of the navigation softwareto be deployed on the ExoMars rover uses as baseline the autonomous navigation architecture developed by CNES during the last 20 years. Such algorithms are designed to meet the mission-specific constraints imposed by the available spatial technology such as energy consumption, memory, computation power and time costs.The first objective of this thesis is to improve the performance of the successive localpath planning architecture proposed by CNES. First, the use of an increment allocal path planner, Fringe Retrieving A∗, is proposed to reduce the path planning computation load. This is complemented by the introduction of binary heaps in the management structures of the path planner. In-place-turn maneuvers during trajectory execution are further reduced by using a state lattice path planner which encodes the steering capabilities of the rover.The second research direction concerns global path planning capabilities for roboticplanetary exploration. First the onboard memory constraints are relaxed and a studyevaluating the use of a global D∗ lite path planner is performed. Second, a novel multi-resolution representation of the navigation map which covers larger areas atno memory cost increase is proposed. It is further used by a global path planner which automatically reduces the computational load by selecting its search direction based on obstacle shapes and distribution in the navigation space.

The Life Marker Chip instrument, which has been selected to fly as part of the 2018 ExoMars rover mission payload, aims to detect up to 25 organic molecules in martian rocks and regolith, as markers of extant life, extinct life, meteoritic in-fall and spacecraft contamination. Martian samples will be extracted with a solvent and the resulting liquid extracts will be analysed using multiplexed microarray-format immunoassays. The LMC is under development by an international consortium led by the University of Leicester and the work described within this thesis was carried out at Cranfield University as part of the consortium’s broader program of work preparing the LMC instrument for flight in 2018. Within this thesis four specific areas of LMC instrument development are addressed: the investigation of immunoassay compatible liquid extraction solvents, the study of likely interactions of martian sample matrix with immunoassays, the development of antibodies for the detection of markers of extinct life and demonstration of solvent extraction and immunoassay detection in a flight representative format. Cont/d.

As part of the ExoMars space programme, the 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter mission was announced. The Martian Atmospheric Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer (MATMOS) was a proposed Fourier transform spectrometer and solar imager concept pair that would provide for trace gas detection and aerosol observation of the Martian atmosphere. Martian aerosols – namely CO2 crystals, water-ice crystals, and dust – have been observed during past missions; however, observations have failed to fully characterize their physical and optical properties. This thesis presents an analysis of the ability of the proposed imager to determine the pointing of the spacecraft independent of the spectrometer. Furthermore, proof of concept is presenting showing the ability to, in laboratory conditions, characterize the precision and stability of the imager. Finally, window regions in the transmittance spectrum of the Martian atmosphere are determined simulating the Martian atmosphere and viewing geometry.

The Life Marker Chip (LMC) instrument was developed with the aim to detect evidence of life on Mars. The detection was based on an inhibition immunoassay. In this work aptamers were evaluated as potential alternative to antibodies for the LMC. Aptamers were synthetic oligonucleotides able to bind specifically with high affinity to a wide range of target molecules, and have been also integrated as bioreceptors in several detection instruments. The generation of new aptamers against two small molecules using the FluMag-SELEX method was tested and was verified the adaptability of pre-existing aptamers against small targets to the LMC assay type. Based on the fact that the LMC was going to be integrated into the space programme ExoMars, it was also implemented into a small scale experiment the Planetary Protection and Contamination Control requirements found on a life-search mission. In addition to that aptamers compatibility with a sterilisation procedure used in life-search missions was also tested. Furthermore because of the nature of the small molecules studied, multiple analytical chemistry techniques were assessed to verify covalent chemistry surface immobilisation. Within the project timeline it was not possible to achieve a full aptamer generation process but it was possible to understand the methodology behind the procedure and give input for future work. It was found that the direct implementation of existing aptamers against small molecules into the LMC assay was not successful. It was also seen that in the case of aptamer integration onto the LMC some assay changes would probably have to be made. This information was very useful to understand if aptamers could be an alternative to antibodies and be implemented directly into the LMC. It was found that aptamers survived the preliminary sterilisation method applied, which might open the possibility of making aptamers convenient space bioreceptors, reducing time and costs of instrument Planetary Protection implementation. In conclusion aptamers were not straightforward alternatives to antibodies for the LMC because aptamers interacted differently with their targets in comparison to antibodies, particularly with small molecules. Also the biochemical simplicity of the small molecule targets introduced difficulties in aptamers generation that more complex targets would have not. Although aptamers shown incompatibility with the LMC assay format against small targets, they presented resilience to a sterilisation procedure implemented on space missions which could lead to the development of more robust bioreceptors for space missions. This information was helpful in understanding which assay formats were better for detection of small molecules using aptamers and that might contribute for future assay choices applied in detection instruments. It was also possible to make recommendations for the LMC regarding design and validation methods used in life-search missions based on the lessons learn from the developed of a small scale experiment. The developed work was presented at conferences and mentioned in an article journal, and in that way contributed to the knowledge of the space community in general.

Divers phénomènes d'ionisation et d'électrification atmosphériques existent dans la plupart des environnements planétaires connus et les conditions dans la basse atmosphère de Mars sont propices à l'établissement de champs électriques potentiellement très élevés. La raison d'être de Micro-ARES, le capteur de champ électrique et de conductivité de la suite météo DREAMS, seule charge utile scientifiques de l'atterrisseur Schiaparelli de la mission ExoMars 2016, était de défricher cette électricité atmosphérique martienne. L’étude de l’activité électrique ainsi que de la génération de ces champs électriques dans les tempêtes de poussières martiennes permettrait de faire la lumière sur divers phénomènes physiques : La dynamique des poussières à l’échelle locale et planétaire, élément clé du climat martien, la peu comprise ionosphère martienne ou encore la chimie atmosphérique et plus précisément l’énigme du méthane martien.La thèse présentée ici détaille le développement matériel et logiciel de Micro-ARES, les tests subits par l’instrument aussi bien en chambre que sur le terrain, ainsi que le traitement des données et la physique qui sous-tend le fonctionnement de l’instrument. Puisque de futures mission embarqueront très probablement ce type de capteur polyvalent, léger et consommant peu, l’accent a été mis sur la modélisation de l’interaction entre l’électrode et l’atmosphère. Ce travail théorique dépasse le cadre de Micro-ARES sur ExoMars 2016 et est une étape nécessaire dans la compréhension et le traitement des biais induits aussi bien par l’environnement de l’instrument, son design simplifié et les comportements inattendus de l’atmosphère martienne. / Atmosphere ionization and electrification mechanisms of various sorts are known to exist in most of the planetary environments. It appears that the lower atmosphere and surface of Mars combine a number of favorable conditions for the development of intense atmospheric electric fields. Unveiling the Martian atmospheric electricity was the original goal of Micro-ARES, the electric-field and conductivity sensor of the DREAMS meteorological suite, the only scientific payload that equipped the Schiaparelli module from the ExoMars 2016 mission.The study of the electrical activity and electric field generation in Martian dust events might bring new capital knowledge on a wide range of phenomena: The local and planetary scale dust dynamics, a major component of the Martian climate, the partially understood Martian ionosphere, atmospheric chemistry and more precisely the production and destruction of the Martian methane, a still unresolved mystery.The following thesis details the hardware and software development of Micro-ARES, its testing phases, both in laboratory and on the field, and the data processing and physical processes underlying the instrument’s operation. Since future missions may carry again these kind of polyvalent, lightweight and energy-efficient sensor, emphasis was put on the modeling of the instrument's electrical coupling with the atmosphere. This theoretical work exceeds the frame of Micro-ARES in ExoMars 2016 and is necessary in order to understand and accurately compensate the biases induced by the instrument's surroundings, its simplified design and the unexpected electrical behavior of the Martian atmosphere.

No description available.

During space missions, real time tele-operation of a rover is not practical because of significant signal latencies associated with inter planetary distances, making some degree of autonomy in rover control desirable. One of the challenges to achieving autonomy is the determination of terrain traversability. As part of this field, the determination of motion state of a rover on rough terrain via the estimation of wheel-terrain contact angles is proposed. This thesis investigates the feasibility of estimating the contact angles from the kinematics of the rover system and measurements from the onboard inertial measurement unit (IMU), joint angle sensors and wheel encoders. This approach does not rely on any knowledge of the terrain geometry or terrain mechanical properties. An existing framework of rover velocity and wheel slip estimation for flat terrain has been extended to additionally estimate the wheel-terrain contact angle along with a side slip angle for each individual wheel, for rough terrain drive. A random walk and a damped model are used to describe the evolution of the contact angle and side slip angle over an unknown terrain. A standard strapdown algorithm for the estimation of attitude and velocity from IMU measurements, is modified to incorporate the 3D kinematics of the rover in the implementation of a nonlinear Kalman filter to estimate the motion states. The estimation results from the filter are verified using tests performed on the ExoMars BB2. The obtained contact angle estimates are found to be consistent with the reference values.