Introduction: We have explored the use of GIS suitability models for the screening and analyzing of potential sites for Mars landers using engineering and scientific constraints in an iterative manner. While initially performed on locally held data sets, these analyses have now been extended to use widely distributed data from standardized Web Mapping Servers (WMS) [1]. The ability to exploit a...

The fine-grained surface material at the Apollo 11 landing site is a brownish, medium-gray, slightly cohesive granular soil, with bulky grains in the silt-to-fine-sand range, having a specific gravity of 3.1 and exhibiting adhesive characteristics. Within the upper few centimeters, the lunar soil has an average density of about 1.6 grams per cubic centimeter and is similar in appearance and beh...

Lidar technology will play an important role in enabling highly ambitious missions being envisioned for exploration of solar system bodies. Currently, NASA is developing a set of advanced lidar sensors, under the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance (ALHAT) project, aimed at safe landing of robotic and manned vehicles at designated sites with a high degree of precision. These lidar sensors a...

Landing site selection is a compromise between safety concerns associated with the site’s terrain and scientific interest. Therefore, technologies enabling pinpoint landing (sub-100 m accuracies) on the surface of Mars are of interest to increase the number of accessible sites for in-situ research as well as allow placement of vehicles nearby prepositioned assets. A survey of various guidance, ...

Introduction: The eolian bedform within Gale Crater referred to as "Rocknest" was investigated by the science instruments of the Curiosity Mars rover. Physical, chemical and mineralogical results are consistent with data collected from soils at other landing sites, suggesting a globally-similar composition. Results from the Curiosity payload from Rocknest should be considered relevant beyond a ...

We provide a description of the tools and techniques used in our analysis of the VAST 2008 Challenge dealing with mass movement of persons departing Isla Del Sueño on boats for the United States during 2005–2007 1. We used visual analytics to explore migration patterns, characterize the choice and evolution of landing sites, characterize the geographical patterns of interdictions and determine ...

Clickbaits are articles with misleading titles, exaggerating the content on the landing page. Their goal is to entice users to click on the title in order to monetize the landing page. The content on the landing page is usually of low quality. Their presence in user homepage stream of news aggregator sites (e.g., Yahoo news, Google news) may adversely impact user experience. Hence, it is import...

Background: One of the candidate landing sites for the Mars Science Laboratory is in the Mawrth region of Mars. The candidate landing ellipse is located on highly cratered terrain with extensive bedrock outcrop. Diverse hydrous minerals have been detected from orbit, providing strong motivation for sending a landed mission to this area. However, models for the accumulation of bedrock in the are...

flying time from the base to any particular location – all of Northern Ireland can be covered in just over 30 minutes. Beside the map, sits an air desk paramedic who listens to NIAS radio traffic and can pre-emptively activate the helicopter if calls such as major RTC, falls from a height or declared major incident are overheard. Otherwise, the team respond to requests from emergency services o...