A team of scientists in Canada conducted an interesting set of experiments in northern Labrador this week. The Canadian researchers put a small robot through a simulated moon mission at the impact crater at Kamestastinb Lake.
This image is a 15-meter per pixel color-infrared ASTER composite draped on a Digital Terrain Model (elevation) giving us this 3D perspective with 3x vertical exaggeration. Image Credit: Centre for Planetary Science & Exploration
Gordon Osinski, assistant professor at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario said that they had never actually done a mission with humans and a robot on another planet. Osinski added that they had got to try that out on Earth before they went up and do it for real.
Geologist Anna Chanou and engineer Raymond Francis play the astronauts visiting the moon crater that has been navigated to by a robotic rover. The two must now pick the samples that they should collect and what instruments they should use to do so. The samples will then be further analysed and they must also relay their findings to the mission control which has been established at the university.
The Kamestastinb Lake region was picked for the experiment as its geology is said to be very similar to that of the moon said Osinski. He added that it gave the students a very realistic mission environment. The mission is the third of three which were funded by the Canadian Space Agency. The team has used $800,000 funds to study the impact crater and work with robots in them.
You can read more about the project here at the mission blog.