Increasing the level of spacecraft autonomy is essential for broadening the reach of solar system exploration. Computer vision has and will continue to play an important role in increasing autonomy of both spacecraft and Earthbased robotic vehicles. This article addresses progress on computer vision for planetary rovers and landers and has four main parts. First, we review major milestones in the development of computer vision for robotic vehicles over the last four decades. Since research on applications for Earth and space has often been closely intertwined, the review includes elements of both. Second, we summarize the design and performance of computer vision algorithms used on Mars in the NASA/JPL Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, which was a major step forward in the use of computer vision in space. These algorithms did stereo vision and visual odometry for rover navigation and feature tracking for horizontal velocity estimation for the landers. Third, we summarize ongoing research to improve vision systems for planetary rovers, which includes various aspects of noise reduction, FPGA implementation, and vision-based slip perception. Finally, we briefly survey other opportunities for computer vision to impact rovers, landers, and orbiters in future solar system exploration missions.
The Hazard Detection System (HDS) is a component of the ALHAT (Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology) sensor suite, which together provide a lander Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) system with the relevant measurements necessary to enable safe precision landing under any lighting conditions. The HDS consists of a stand-alone compute element (CE), an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), and a gimbaled flash LIDAR sensor that are used, in real-time, to generate a Digital Elevation Map (DEM) of the landing terrain, detect candidate safe landing sites for the vehicle through Hazard Detection (HD), and generate hazard-relative navigation (HRN) measurements used for safe precision landing. Following an extensive ground and helicopter test campaign, ALHAT was integrated onto the Morpheus rocket-powered terrestrial test vehicle in March 2014. Morpheus and ALHAT then performed five successful free flights at the simulated lunar hazard field constructed at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space Center, for the first time testing the full system on a lunar-like approach geometry in a relevant dynamic environment. During these flights, the HDS successfully generated DEMs, correctly identified safe landing sites and provided HRN measurements to the vehicle, marking the first autonomous landing of a NASA rocket-powered vehicle in hazardous terrain. This paper provides a brief overview of the HDS architecture and describes its in-flight performance.
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