Second Experiments in the Robotic Investigation of Life in the Atacama Desert of Chile

Abstract

The Atacama Desert of northern Chile may be the most lifeless place on Earth, yet microorganisms do survive in some areas. The distribution and diversity of life in the Atacama remains unexplored and is the focus of the Life in the Atacama project. To conduct this investigation, survey traverses across the desert with biologic and geologic instruments will allow us to create biogeographic maps. We accomplish these surveys with an autonomous astrobiology rover. In this paper we motivate the Life in the Atacama project and report on the second of three field seasons of scientific investigation and technical experiments in Chile. We describe the rover, instruments, algorithms and assess intermediate results. These results provide insight into the design of an effective robotic astrobiologist for future planetary investigations and into the best methods to conduct astrobiologic surveys.