Exploration of extreme or remote environments such as Mars is often recognized as an opportunity for multi-robot systems. However, this poses challenges for maintaining robust inter-robot communication without preexisting infrastructure. It may be that robots can only share information when they are physically in close proximity with each other. At the same time, atmospheric phenomena such as dust devils are poorly understood and characterization of their electrostatic properties is of scientific interest. We perform a comparative analysis of two multi-robot communication strategies: a distributed approach, with pairwise intermittent rendezvous, and a centralized, fixed base station approach. We also introduce and evaluate the effectiveness of an algorithm designed to predict the location and strength of electrostatic anomalies, assuming robot proximity. Using an agent-based simulation, we assess the performance of these strategies in a 2D grid cell representation of a Martian environment. Results indicate that a decentralized rendezvous system consistently outperforms a fixed base station system in terms of exploration speed and in reducing the risk of data loss. We also find that inter-robot data sharing improves performance when trying to predict the location and strength of an electrostatic anomaly. These findings indicate the importance of appropriate communication strategies for efficient multi-robot science missions.

The Mars rover Perseverance captured a dust devil moving across the rim of a crater. A new compilation of images from NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover appears to show a dust devil twister dancing across the surface of the red planet, about 2.5 miles away from the six-wheeled geologist. NASA said only the lower portion of the twister was seen moving along the western rim of Mars' Jezero Crater, on Aug. 30, 2023. The images were snapped on Perseverance's 899th day on Martian soil. NASAs Mars Perseverance rover snapped several images of a dust devil moving across the Martian surface.

NASA is set to pause most of its robotic Mars missions for safety reasons ahead of a two-week blackout caused by the Red Planet's position in space. The rovers Perseverance and Curiosity, as well as helicopter Ingenuity and the lander InSight, will all lose connection with Earth from October 2 when Mars moves behind the sun from our planet's perspective. This position in its orbit, called solar conjunction, happens every two years and can disrupt interplanetary communications and lead to'unexpected behaviour from our deep space explorers', NASA said in a statement. Solar conjunction, when Mars moves behind the sun from Earth's perspective (pictured), happens every two years and can disrupt interplanetary communications NASA is planning to stop sending commands to most of its Mars missions during a communications blackout between October 2 and 16. Instead, the various robots will be given'homework' to carry out on their own. The main missions affected include the Perseverance rover, which arrived on the Red Planet in February, and the Ingenuity helicopter it brought with it on its seven-month journey.

But as missions go farther and become more ambitious, long-distance puppetry becomes less and less practical. If dumb spacecraft will not work, the answer is to make them smarter. Artificial intelligence will increasingly give spacecraft the ability to think for themselves. "These technologies are already in operation on specific missions," said Steve Chien, a computer scientist who heads the artificial intelligence group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Scientists discussed some of the recent progress last week at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Baltimore.

In a shift some hail as a revolution in space technology, scientists are reprogramming existing space probes to make more decisions on their own. Experts say artificial intelligence will help unmanned spacecraft work more efficiently and send better data back to Earth. Rebecca Castaño of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, says even the current Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity will soon benefit from smarter software. Their upgrades are scheduled for this summer. As part of their mission, the rovers' scan for atmospheric phenomena, such as dust devils (small sandy whirlwinds) or clouds. But because the probes can't recognize these features on their own, they waste time beaming photos of little or no interest back to Earth.