Propulsion Technology/Fido Essay, Research Paper

The FIDO rover is JPL’s advanced technology rover that supports both current and future robotic missions on the surface of Mars. In particular, the FIDO rover conducts mission relevant field trials that simulate mission operations scenarios and validate rover technology in the areas of rover navigation and control, instrument placement, remote sensing, scientific data collection, intelligent behaviors, telemetry processing, data visualization, and mission operations tools. The FIDO team pursues unique technology developments in these areas as well.

Currently, the FIDO rover directly supports the NASA/JPL Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Project that will launch 2 rovers to Mars in the summer of 2003. FIDO will conduct field trials in 2001 and 2002 to assist with training Mars scientists and operations personnel by allowing these people the opportunity to operate a fully-instrumented rover within challenging geological settings on Earth that are analogous to settings on Mars. In addition to the support of the MER project, the FIDO rover task looks beyond the 2003 opportunity by developing advanced technologies in the areas of robust surface sampling (rock and soil), autonomous on-board software that reduces the number of interactions with Earth-based mission operators required to complete a science function, surface rendezvous with both natural and man-made objects, along with advanced mission operations capabilities. During future NASA Mars missions, there will be a focus on collecting samples from the Martian surface and returning these samples to Earth. The development of the advanced rover capabilities described above and the validation of these capabilities during realistic terrestrial field tests will further NASA’s ability to carry out exciting scientific exploration of the Martian surface.