A Mobile Robot System for Remote Measurements of Ammonia Vapor in the Atmosphere

In recent years there has been growing evidence that Mars once had a warm, wet environment that was capable of supporting life. This leads to questions as to whether life ever arose on the planet. Space agencies are actively supporting projects to answer this question. As part of that effort, this paper proposes a robotic system to rapidly scan large areas of the Martian surface for specific biogenic gases in the atmosphere. The long-term goal of the project is to develop a system that can locate local emissions of water vapor and biogases on Mars. The paper presents preliminary proof of concept experiments for a practical robotic measurement system to search for biogenic gases on Mars. In this work, an open path spectrometer to measure the biogenic gas ammonia was developed and deployed on a rover. Initial tests in an outdoor setting indicate that the system is effective in measuring ammonia. Difficulties in taking measurements outdoors include compensating for wind gusts and changes in ambient lighting. The paper proposes improvements in the current system that will compensate for current limitations and allow measurements to be taken over longer distances.