Announcements of Opportunity
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SURF@JPL: Announcements of Opportunity
Announcements of Opportunity are posted by JPL technical staff for the SURF@JPL program. Each AO indicates whether or not it is open to non-Caltech students. If an AO is NOT open to non-Caltech students, please DO NOT contact the mentor.
Announcements of Opportunity are posted as they are received. Please check back regularly for new AO submissions!
**Students applying for JPL projects should complete a SURF@JPL application instead of a "regular" SURF application.
**Students pursuing opportunities at JPL must be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents.
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| Project: |
Surface Navigation for Mars Sample Recovery Helicopters: Performance Evaluation and Prototype Demonstration
(JPL AO No. 14105)
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| Disciplines: | Computer Science, Aerospace Engineering | ||||||||
| Mentor: |
Jeff Delaune,
(JPL),
Jeff.H.Delaune@jpl.nasa.gov, |
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| Background: | NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are planning ways to bring the first samples of Mars material back to Earth for detailed study. The Mars Perseverance rover is the first leg of this international interplanetary relay team. Its job is to collect and cache samples on Mars. A Sample Return Lander will land in Jezero Crater, bringing a small rocket on which the samples collected by Perseverance would be loaded. Two Ingenuity-like Sample Recovery Helicopters will provide a secondary capability to retrieve samples on the surface of Mars. Once the sample cache is launched off the Red Planet, another spacecraft will capture it in Mars orbit, and then bring it back to Earth safely and securely in the early to mid 2030s. These first collected and returned samples could answer a key question: did life ever exist on Mars? Only by bringing the samples back can we truly answer the question by using the most sophisticated, state-of-the-art labs, at a time when future generations can study them using techniques yet to be invented. | ||||||||
| Description: |
The student will support the development and testing of the vision-based surface navigation system for the Sample Recovery Helicopters. They will work with the team on two main tasks: 1/ Dataset collection and performance evaluation of image processing and vision-based navigation algorithms. The student will participate in design, implementation and acquisition of the robotics dataset. In addition, the student will select the most relevant metrics to accurately characterize and monitor system performance, implement them in post-processing software, and analyze the results with the team. 2/ Real-time demonstration on prototype hardware. The student will develop the necessary software to run the surface navigation system prototype in real time on mission-representative hardware, in coordination with other team members. |
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| References: |
https://mars.nasa.gov/msr/ https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-will-inspire-world-when-it-returns-mars-samples-to-earth-in-2033 |
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| Student Requirements: | Courses required: Computer Vision, Probability or Estimation, Data Structures and Algorithms, Programming. The ideal candidate has experience in Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), Kalman filtering, sensor fusion, Python and C++ programming, robotics or embedded systems. | ||||||||
| Location / Safety: | Project building and/or room locations: . Student will need special safety training: . | ||||||||
| Programs: |
This AO can be done under the following programs:
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