Main Engine Cut OffCuriosity Can Choose Laser Targets on Its Own
To select a target autonomously, the software’s analysis of images uses adjustable criteria specified by scientists, such as identifying rocks based on their size or brightness. The criteria can be changed depending on the rover’s surroundings and the scientific goals of the measurements.
This kind of autonomy is going to be hugely beneficial, especially when you consider the signal delay between Earth and Mars which is between 4 and 24 minutes.
The typical flow would be this: Curiosity sends an image to Earth, the team analyzes it and selects a target, transmits the instructions back to Curiosity, which takes the measurement and sends that data back to Earth. That’s three trips back and forth—between 12 and 72 minutes (plus the time it takes to analyze the first image) to receive the measurements. This little bit of autonomy is going to be a huge timesaver.