Clancey - Mars Exploration Activities

William J. Clancey: Home > Publications > Mars Analog Expeditions and Research Stations

NASA-SETI Haughton-Mars Project
&
Mars Society Research Stations
Analog field studies provide a way of experimentally learning how we will live and work in space--on the moon, Mars, and beyond. An engineer might call this work"empirical requirements analysis." Inside Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, "the hab," July 16, 2001. Vladimir Pletser (ESA, Belgium), Robert Zubrin, and I are discussing what we learned from a recent "EVA" (excursion in simulated space suits).	The NASA's Haughton-Mars Project (HMP) has investigated the Haughton Crater on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic as an analog of Mars. Geologists, biologists, computer scientists, physicians, and journalists have participated in a series of field seasons, led by Pascal Lee, an astrogeologist at SETI and the NASA/Ames Research Center. The Mars Society has constructed habitats at Haughton (Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS)) and near Hanksville, UT (Mars Desert Research Station), which will enable studying how scientists and engineers will live and work on Mars. I have proposed a framework for managing scientific research in these habitats and systematically studied a two week rotation at MDRS. My field reports describe my research during HMP and in the research stations. My favorite photos, associated publications, and some slide presentations are available below.
Learn about the Mars Society's Research Stations: Video: Zubrin's FMARS2001 Dedication Speech My report on the second FMARS simulation with Robert Zubrin as commander: Simulating "Mars on Earth" (July 2001) How I managed and studied the fifth MDRS simulation: Mars Society 2002: "A Closed Mars Analog Simulation" How we used MDRS to test and refine a wireless computing and communications system that partially automates the role of Apollo's CapCom: The Mobile Agents Project.	July 2001 at the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station

Expedition Field Work & Experiments

"Commander Logs" provide daily reports, photographs, and a mission summary.
Published titles appear in quotes; see below and Publications for full citations.

	"Mobile Agents integrate astronauts, rover, and mission support in Desert-RATS mission simulation" (abstract)	2006: Application of Mobile Agents with pressurized suits for voice commanding the SCOUT prototype rover in directed drives to waypoints, following an astronaut, taking photos of places, and controlling an instrument.
	NASA Ames Press Release Press Reports "Power System Agents" YouTube Video	2006: Application of Mobile Agents voice commanding for monitoring the MDRS electric power system. Included inverter & generator alerts and voice messages, using Bluetooth wireless headsets anywhere inside MDRS and by relay to the generator outside.
	NASA Ames Press Release NASA Ames Photo Page Press Reports "Planning for Exploration" YouTube Video	2005: Integrated simulation of robot reconnaisance, planning, and EVAs. First extended EVAs with multiple voice-commanding units operational over several hours. Improved feedback and automatic association of data, plus location and distancc questions. Rudimentary robotic relay of WLAN.
	NASA Ames Photo Page (Legacy) Press Reports "Automating CapCom Using Mobile Agents and Robotic Assistants"	2004: EVAs with two astronauts and robotic mule in ravine 5 km from MDRS, including all aspects of Mobile Agents: photos, voice annotations, labeling sample bags, named locations, schedule and location alerting, science database, and email notification to remote support. Ability to remotely restart units independently. Best run with one unit working consistently was 1 1/2 hours.
	NASA Ames Information Technology Forum Jauuary 13, 2004 (slides) "The Mobile Agents Integrated Field Test: MDRS April2003"	2003: First rudimentary EVAs, tackling problems of starting up multiple computers, outdoor networking around obstacles, GPS and biosensor telemetry. Best run was about 20 minutes. (Built on DesertRATS Sept 2002 in AZ and first integrated tests at JSC Mars Yard, May 2002.)
	Mars on Earth Reconsidered "To the North Coast of Devon: Collaborative Navigation While Exploring Unfamiliar Terrain"	2003: Return to Haughton Mars Project for a humvee excursion to the north coast of Devon Island. The harsh weather framed our understanding of the harsh realities of risky operations.
	"Participant Observation of a Mars Surface Habitat Mission Simulation"	2002: Two-week stimulation of Mars surface mission, with extensive study of productivity relating group and individual activities, using time lapse data, plans, sleep log, and surveys.
	Trip to Thomas Lee Inlet (Video) What we are learning about communication protocols Arriving Back in Base Camp Leaving Base Camp for Home "Simulating 'Mars on Earth': A Report from FMARS Phase 2" "Simulating Activities: Relating Motives, Deliberation, and Attentive Coordination" "Cognitive Modeling of Social Behaviors"	2001: Mission simulation led by Robert Zubrin in FMARS on Devon Island, filmed by Discovery Channel. Study of activities was formalized in Brahms computer simulation of filling water tank, preparing for EVA, and a morning planning meeting--coupled to a 2 1/2 D animation of facility, crew, and tools.
	The FMARS Chronicles 2000 "A Framework for Analog Studies of Mars Surface Operations: Using the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station" "Empirical Requirements Analysis for Mars Surface Operations Using FMARS"	2000: Construction of FMARS facility and initial occupation for several days, suggested some guidelines for future mission simulations.
	Human Centered Computing at Devon 1999 "Human Exploration Ethnography of the Haughton-Mars Project 1998-99" "Field Science Ethnography: Methods for Systematic Observation on an Expedition" "Roles for Agent Assistants in Field Science: Understanding Personal Projects and Collaboration" "Automating CapCom: Pragmatic Operations and Technology Research for Human Exploration of Mars"	1999: A full month on the Haughton River, with the best weather and the magnificent dome tent. Analysis of biologist and geologist working together, using video transcripts, was related in subsequent publications to Apollo CapCom functions and the nature of collaboration.
	Activities at Devon 1998 "Visualizing Practical Knowledge: The Haughton-Mars Project"	1998: The first broad-participation Haughton Mars Project, documented by National Geographic. Experience here revealed the need for wireless microphones and time lapse video.

Photographs from the Arctic

Barry Blumberg at FMARS on 6 August 2000

Barry Blumberg visited the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on August 6, 2000
Left to right: Marc Boucher, Pascal Lee, Sekou Crawford, Barry Blumberg, and Bill Clancey

All images following Copyright William J. Clancey © 1999-2001, All Rights Reserved.

Gallery from HMP-2001 (Forty photos with captions from the first year we occupied the Flashline Mars Research Station with full simulation protocols. )
Helicopter Trip to Thomas Lee Inlet at the North Shore of Devon Island (Video)
Mars-Arctic Dreams--Imagining life on Mars
Gallery from HMP-2000 (Sixty photos with captions from the year we constructed the Flashline Station on the edge of Devon Crater. )
Gallery from HMP-1999 (Sixty photos with poetic captions composed during the Haughton-Mars 1999 Expedition. This "romantic" year was a privileged time, our last camp on the Haughton River. )
Four photos from HMP-98

Publications Related to Mars Analog Research

Clancey, W. J. (2014). Working on Mars: Translating Planetary Field Science to Our Distant Lands. KERB Journal of Landscape Architecture, Volume 22, pp. 56-59. Special issue “Remoteness.”

Clancey, W. J. (2006) Participant Observation of a Mars Surface Habitat Mission Simulation. Habitation, 11(1/2) 27-47.

Clancey, W. J., Lee, P., Cockell, C., Braham, S., Shafto, M. (2006) To the north coast of Devon: Collaborative navigation while exploring unfamiliar terrain. In J. Clarke (Ed.), Mars Analog Research, Vol. 111, American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series (AAS 06-263), San Diego: Univelt, Inc., pp. 197-226.

Clancey, W. J. (2005) Expedition memory: Towards agent-based web services for creating and using Mars exploration data (The 2nd Mars Expedition Planning Workshop, August 6-7.

Clancey, W. J. (2004) Automating Capcom: Pragmatic Operations and Technology Research for Human Exploration of Mars. In C. Cockell (ed.) Martian Expedition Planning, Vol. 107, American Astronautical Society Science and Technology Series (AAS 03-325), San Diego: Univelt, Inc., pp. 411-430.

Clancey, W. J. (2004) Roles for agent assistants in field science: Understanding personal projects and collaboration, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part C: Applications and Reviews, 34 (2) 125-137. Special Issue on Human-Robot Interaction, May.

Clancey, W. J. (2003) Principles for integrating Mars analog science, operations, and technology research, Workshop on Analog Sites and Facilities for the Human Exploration of the Moon and Mars, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, , May 21-23.

Cockell, C. S., Lim, D.S.S., Braham, S., Lee, P., and Clancey, W. J. (2003) Exobiological Protocol and Laboratory for the Human Exploration of MarsLessons from a Polar Impact Crater, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 56 (3-4) 74-86 , Mar-Apr.

Clancey, W. J. (2001) Field Science Ethnography: Methods for Systematic Observation on an Expedition, Field Methods, 13(3) 223-243, August.

Clancey, W. J. (2001) Empirical Requirements Analysis for Mars Surface Operations Using the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, Proceedings of the Fourteenth International FLAIRS Conference, AAAI Press, pp. 24-26.

Clancey, W. J. (2000) Visualizing practical knowledge: The Haughton-Mars Project, In C. Maar, E. Pöppel and H. U. Obrist (Eds.), Weltwissen - Wissenswelt. Das globale Netz von Text und Bild, Cologne: Dumont Verlag, pp. 325-341.

FMARS and MDRS: Mars Society Conference Publications

Clancey, W.J. & Arnold, J.E. (2018) Training Creative Engineers: The Arcturus IV Case Study and Its Relation to MDRS. Mars Society Annual Convention. Pasadena, CA. August.
Clancey, W.J., Sierhuis, M., Alena, R., Dowding, J., Scott, M., and van Hoof, R. (2006) Power Agents: The Mobile Agents 2006 Field Test at MDRS, Mars Society 2006 Presentation.

Clancey, W.J., Sierhuis, M., Alena, R., Berrios, D., Dowding, J., Graham, J.S., Tyree, K.S., Hirsh, R.L., Garry, W.B., Semple, A., Buckingham Shum, S.J., Shadbolt, N. and Rupert, S. (2005) Planning for Exploration: The Mobile Agents 2005 Field Test at MDRS, Mars Society 2005 Presentation.

Clancey, W.J., Sierhuis, M., Alena, R., Berrios, D., Dowding, J., Graham, J.S., Tyree, K.S., Hirsh, R.L., Garry, W.B., Semple, A., Buckingham Shum, S.J., Shadbolt, N. and Rupert, S. (2005) Automating CapCom Using Mobile Agents and Robotic Assistants. In F. Crossman and R. Zubrin (Eds.), On to Mars: Exploring and Settling a New World. Volume 2, Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, CD-ROM only. [Mars Society 2004 Presentation]

Clancey, W.J., Sierhuis, M., Alena, R., Crawford, S., Dowding, J., Graham, J.S., Kaskiris, C., Tyree, K.S., and van Hoof, R. (2005) The Mobile Agents Integrated Field Test: The Mars Desert Research Station April 2003. In F. Crossman and R. Zubrin (Eds.), On to Mars: Exploring and Settling a New World. Volume 2, Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, pp. 251-257. [Mars Society 2003 Presentation]
- Also: Proceedings of Florida AI Research Symposium (FLAIRS), Miami, May 2004. CD-ROM.

Clancey, W.J. (2005) A Closed Mars Analog Simulation: The Approach of Crew 5 at the Mars Desert Research Station. In F. Crossman and R. Zubrin (Eds.), On to Mars: Exploring and Settling a New World. Volume 2, Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, pp 54-68. [Mars Society 2002 Presentation]
- Expanded version: Clancey, W.J. (2006) Participant observation of a Mars surface habitat mission simulation, Habitation, Vol 11(1).

Clancey, W. J. (2002) Simulating "Mars on Earth"--A report from FMARS phase 2 . In F. Crossman and R. Zubrin (Eds.), On to Mars: Colonizing a New World, Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, CD-ROM only. [Mars Society 2001 Presentation]

Clancey, W. J. (2002) A Framework for Analog Studies of Mars Surface Operations Using the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station. In F. Crossman and R. Zubrin (Eds.), On to Mars: Colonizing a New World, Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, CD-ROM only. [Mars Society 2000 Presentation]

Clancey, W. J. (2002) Human Exploration Ethnography In F. Crossman and R. Zubrin (Eds.), On to Mars: Colonizing a New World, Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, CD-ROM only. [Mars Society 1999 Presentation]

Mars Society Talks (Slides)

Buzz Aldrin speaks to Mars Society, August 1999

A Framework for Analog Studies of Mars Surface Operations Using the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station Mars Society Annual Meeting 2000 -- Toronto, Canada
Human Exploration Ethnography Mars Society Annual Meeting 1999 -- Boulder, Colorado

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NASA-SETI Haughton-Mars Project & Mars Society Research Stations