Of the 3.8 million lines of code, the Curiosity device chose 21000 to explore the Martian territory within a 2.5 km radius. This is made possible by the AEGIS program. Desired goal - naked rocks that are ideal for analyzing the geological history of the planet
A team from the United States, Denmark and France created AEGIS software that provides space robots with more autonomy. Mars is located quite far away, and power does not always allow to receive a clear signal. Therefore, scientists see the benefit that robots will be able to independently choose research objectives, especially when located on the opposite side.
Without it, the robot has to take pictures, send them to Earth and wait for the next command. AEGIS will save a lot of time and explore more objects. The software was tested and installed on the Curiosity rover in May 2016. It has already been used 54 times in the last 11 months. It allows the mechanism to control the ChemCam camera, which explores rocks and other geological formations.
It turned out that with its help the system began to work at 93% more accurate. It also increased the concentration of the camera from 256 to 327, which made it possible to collect more information.
(A) - ChemCam View. (B) - The camera sends lasers into the rocks to analyze their composition, leaving visible traces on the surface (top right) and inside the hole of the drill with a diameter of 16 mm (center). (C) - ChemCam measured soil targets. (D) - The ChemCam tool takes pictures with high focus of distant targets, such as this area in the Valley of Peace.
Examples of AEGIS targets mined from 1400 to 1660 Martian days. Those marked in blue were rejected and retained in red. Top-rated targets are green and second rank orange.
AEGIS examples that capture human commands for searching by the device
