Feature Detection Onboard Mars Rovers: Automated Cloud and Dust Devil Detection

Introduction: Recent explorations on the Martian surface have revealed an environment far more dynamic than previously believed. In particular, the atmosphere of Mars is very dynamic. Dust devils and clouds are dynamic atmospheric features that have been observed by the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER). These high science value events have been the subject of considerable study. Both dust devil and cloud detection campaigns have been conducted, but in general these are rare events. For example, only around 10-25% of the cloud campaign images collected have clouds in them. Prior campaigns have involved collecting images at fixed times for return to Earth. This is an inefficient use of downlink bandwidth as the majority of images do not contain dust devils or clouds.