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Agence France-Presse

To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, Nasa has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job.
With its black basalt sand, windswept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun lava field at the foot of Iceland’s second biggest glacier, Langjokull, was chosen as a stand-in for the Red Planet’s surface.
For three weeks, 15 scientists and engineers sent by the US space agency descended on the site, 100 kilometres from the capital, Reykjavik, last month to develop a prototype.
It will aim to continue the work of the “Curiosity” rover, which has been exploring Mars since 2012 in search of signs of ancient life and making preparations for human exploration.
Why did Mars become uninhabitable?
Experts say that Iceland, a volcanic island in the middle of the North Atlantic, is in many ways reminiscent of the fourth planet from the Sun.
“It’s a very good analogue for Mars exploration and learning how to drive Mars rovers,” said Adam Deslauriers, manager of space and education at Canada’s Mission Control Space Services.
The company has been commissioned by Nasa to test a rover prototype as part of the SAND-E (Semi-Autonomous Navigation for Detrital Environments) project.
The prototype is a small, electric vehicle with white panels and an orange chassis.

It has a four-wheel drive propelled by two motors and is powered by 12 small car batteries stacked inside.
“This rover we have … (is) basically indestructible,” Deslauriers said.
“The rovers that we have on Mars and the Moon would be a lot more sensitive to the environment and conditions of Iceland.
“A Moon rover is completely unprepared for rain,” he added, just as a rain shower swept in.




Equipped with sensors, a computer, a dual-lens camera and controlled remotely, the rover moves its nearly 570 kilograms at a leisurely speed of about 20 centimetres per second.
The speed needs to be slow to enable the rover to collect data and imagery properly, Mark Vandermeulen, a robotics engineer at Mission Control Space Services, said.
The meagre pace on the lava field is still two to four times faster than the speed it will be driving at its extraterrestrial destination.
Using its sensors and camera, the rover gathers and classifies data from its environment and sends back the findings to the engineers’ trailer.

The engineers then package the data and forward it to a tent where the scientists are huddled, to simulate how the data would be sent from Mars to Earth.
The rover exploring Iceland is just a prototype for the one that will be going to Mars next year.
That one, which has yet to be named, will also be able to collect samples and store them in tubes to be brought back to Earth by future missions.
As the prototype isn’t capable of doing this, researchers walk to the area studied, armed with radiometers and other equipment, to collect all the data samples that the finished rover would be able to do.

The sites are selected to study how the chemical composition and physical properties of the sand and rocks change as they move from the glacier to a nearby river.
Before Mars became an inhospitable frozen desert with an average temperature of minus 63 degrees Celsius, scientists believe that the planet shared many of the characteristics of the subarctic island.
“The mineralogy in Iceland is very similar to what we would find on Mars,” Ryan Ewing, associate professor of geology at Texas A&M University, said.
In particular, Ewing referred to minerals such as olivine and pyroxenes, both dark so-called mafic rocks, which have also been found on Mars.
“In addition to that, we don’t have much vegetation, it’s cold and we have some of the environments like sand dunes and rivers and glaciers that Mars has evidence of in the past,” Ewing said.




Iceland has previously been used as a training ground for Nasa missions.
During the Apollo mission years, 32 astronauts in the mid-1960s received geological training in the Askja lava fields and near the Krafla crater in the north of the country.
The setting allows Nasa to test equipment and procedures, as well as the people performing them, in extreme environments while remaining on terra firma.
Mission Control says it is planning to return to Iceland next summer before the launch of the next Mars rover mission, scheduled between July 17 and August 5, 2020.


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Iceland

Nasa prepares for mission to Mars with a trip to Iceland

Scientists work at the Nasa base on the Lambahraun lava field in Iceland. Photo: AFP

In this picture taken on July 19, 2019 shows the NASA base at the Lambahraun lava field in Iceland where they are getting their new robotic space explorer ready for the next mission to Mars. - To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job. With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun lava field at the foot of Iceland's second biggest glacier, Langjokull, was chosen as a stand-in for the Red Planet's surface. (Photo by Halldor KOLBEINS / AFP)

In this picture taken on July 19, 2019 shows scientists working at the NASA base at the Lambahraun lava field in Iceland where they are getting their new robotic space explorer ready for the next mission to Mars. - To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job. With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun lava field at the foot of Iceland's second biggest glacier, Langjokull, was chosen as a stand-in for the Red Planet's surface. (Photo by Halldor KOLBEINS / AFP)

In this picture taken on July 19, 2019 Mark Vandermeulen, a robotics engineer from Mission Control Space Services, poses at the NASA base at the Lambahraun lava field in Iceland where they are getting their new robotic space explorer ready for the next mission to Mars. - To prepare for the next mission to Mars in 2020, NASA has taken to the lava fields of Iceland to get its new robotic space explorer ready for the job. With its black basalt sand, wind-swept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun lava field at the foot of Iceland's second biggest glacier, Langjokull, was chosen as a stand-in for the Red Planet's surface. (Photo by Halldor KOLBEINS / AFP)

Why did Mars become uninhabitable? One scientist’s 30-year quest to get under the skin of the red planet

An illustration of the Mars Cube One spacecraft flying over Mars with Earth and the sun in the distance. Photo: AP

FILE PHOTO: The Mars InSight probe is shown in this artist's rendition operating on the surface of Mars, due to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, U.S. on May 5, 2018 in this image obtained on May 3, 2018. NASA/ Handout via REUTERS/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas-V rocket is seen with NASA's InSight spacecraft onboard, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, U.S., May 3, 2018. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is a Mars lander designed to study the "inner space" of Mars: its crust, mantle, and core. Picture taken on May 3, 2018. Courtesy of NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT

A savvy traveller’s guide to Iceland – from Game of Thrones to the northern lights

Iceland offers a great place from which to watch the Aurora borealis (northern lights). Photo: Shutterstock

Drinking in Iceland. Photo: Shutterstock

Skyr. Photo: Shutterstock

Iceland. Photo: Shutterstock

Golden Circle

CenterHotel Midgardur

Hallgrímskirkja

Northern lights/Aurora Borealis

Blue Lagoon

50 years after moon landing, walk in Neil Armstrong’s footsteps at Nasa’s lunar training ground in Arizona

Meteor Crater, near Winslow, Arizona, where Apollo astronauts were trained to collect rock samples. Photo: Alamy

DX6PR7 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin and the Apollo 11 Lunar Module "Eagle." July 20, 1969

The Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona, played a major role in putting together the maps of the Moon that helped the Apollo astronauts land safely. Some came in person to look through the Clark Refractor telescope here, May 25, 2019.[21JULY2019 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE]CREDIT: Peter Neville-Hadley

The Clark Refractor at Flagstaff, Arizona, was used to help draw up maps of the Moon for the Apollo astronauts, Some of whom came in person to look through it, May 25, 2019.[21JULY2019 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE]CREDIT: Peter Neville-Hadley

The lunar rovers used by Apollo mission 15â17 were developed in Flagstaff, Arizona. A stronger version now on display at Flagstaffâs Astrogeology Science Center and able to deal with Earthâs gravity, was used to give austronauts off-road experience on the cider fields of nearby Sunset Crater, May 25, 2019.[21JULY2019 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE]CREDIT: Peter Neville-Hadley

Displays at Meteor Crater, explain the similarity between this impact crater near Flagstaff, Arizona, visited by all the Apollo astronuats, and those they would see on the Moon, May 25, 2019.[21JULY2019 TRAVEL POST MAGAZINE]CREDIT: Peter Neville-Hadley

Silenced by intense Mars dust storm, Nasa makes final attempt to contact rover Opportunity before farewell

FILE - This illustration made available by NASA shows the rover Opportunity on the surface of Mars. The exploratory vehicle landed on Jan. 24, 2004, and logged more than 28 miles (45 kilometers) before falling silent during a global dust storm in June 2018. There was so much dust in the Martian atmosphere that sunlight could not reach Opportunity's solar panels for power generation. (NASA via AP)

This image sent by NASA's Opportunity rover on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015 shows a view from atop a hill on Mars. (NASA via AP)

This March 31, 2016 photo made available by NASA shows a dust devil in a valley on Mars, seen by the Opportunity rover perched on a ridge. The view looks back at the rover's tracks leading up the north-facing slope of "Knudsen Ridge," which forms part of the southern edge of "Marathon Valley." (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)

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Experts say that Iceland, a volcanic island in the middle of the North Atlantic, is in many ways reminiscent of the fourth planet from the Sun
The setting allows Nasa to test equipment and procedures, as well as people, in extreme environments while remaining on terra firma



With its windswept dunes and craggy peaks, the Lambahraun lava field at the foot of Iceland’s second biggest glacier is the ideal stand-in for the Red Planet’s surface.


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