GNGTS 2018 - 37° Convegno Nazionale

GNGTS 2018 S essione 3.2 645 crew operating in the field. This team, encompassing analogue astronauts left in total isolation for 30 days, have conducted scientific experiments in preparation of future human Mars missions. Several experiments have been done in different fields, like engineering, planetary surface operations, astrobiology, geophysics/ geology and life sciences. Among those, in ScanMars, the astronauts faced with a Ground Penetrating Radar to investigate the subsurface, though the recording of reflected radio-waves pulses. Data and Method. The ScanMars experiment took place in the Dhofar desert (Oman), where the analogue astronauts used a Radsys Zond 12e Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). The instrument was equipped with a 500 MHz antenna that guarantee an efficient manoeuvrability and a good compromise between resolution and investigation depth. A key aspect, from a logistical point of view, was that the data were collected by the astronauts, that despite their undoubtful qualities and preparation, didn’t have any previous experience in GPR data collection. For this reason, they were trained in December 2017 by the project PIs, that provided them the theoretical, technical and logistical fundamentals. A detailed procedure protocol was also provided, with a step-by-step workflow to set-up hardware and software, in order to correctly collect and check the data during the activity onsite. Once in the field, the analogue astronauts were able to collect more than 110’000 GPR echoes, for a total length of about 2 km and 26 bidimensional profiles. The data quality is generally good, with a max penetration depth of 5 meters. A necessary post-processing phase was successively pursued, aimed to improve the data quality, through a customized processing flow including: trace editing, amplitude recovery, bandpass filters and topography corrections, time migration and depth conversion of the original two-way-travel-time (TWT) GPR profiles. Results and conclusions. The ScanMars experiment was a success for several reasons: the amount of good quality scientific data collected, the volume of new experience created among the scientific team, the operation rooms and the field crew and also the echo generated by international press and media. This fact is a proof of the increasing interest in the planetary exploration, testified also by an increasing number of simulated experiments. With ScanMars and AMADEE-18 in general, we faced with the different aspects of scientific exploration among different and distant worlds, developing synergic strategies and workflows part of the exploration cascade, that will be the base of future human planetary missions. More in detail on the ScanMars outcomes, the radargrams have shown that different geologic media (e.g. sandy, Fig. 1 - Analogue astronauts collecting GPR data during the ScanMars experiment of Amadee18 (Photo credits OeWF). Fig. 2 - Processed GPR radargram from ScanMars experiment. The radargram is the visual representation of the radar echoes recorded in the field, here showing dipping reflectors compatible with geological features typical of the wadi riverbed.