W. Brent Garry

BASALT A: Basaltic Terrains in Idaho and Hawaii as Planetary Analogs for Mars Geology and Astrobiology

Abstract Field research target regions within two basaltic geologic provinces are described as Earth analogs to Mars. Regions within the eastern Snake River Plain of Idaho and the Big Island of Hawai‘i, the United States, provinces that represent analogs of present-day and early Mars, respectively, were evaluated on the basis of geologic settings, rock lithology and geochemistry, rock alteration, and climate. Each of these factors provides rationale for the selection of specific targets for field research in five analog target regions: (1) Big Craters and (2) Highway lava flows at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Idaho, and (3) Mauna Ulu low shield, (4) Kīlauea Iki lava lake, and (5) Kīlauea caldera in the Kīlauea Volcano summit region and the East Rift Zone of Hawai‘i. Our evaluation of compositional and textural attributes, as well as the effects of syn- and posteruptive rock alteration, shows that basaltic terrains in Idaho and Hawai‘i provide a way to characterize the geology and major geologic substrates that host biological activity of relevance to Mars exploration. This work provides the foundation to better understand the scientific questions related to the habitability of basaltic terrains, the rationale behind selecting analog field targets, and their applicability as analogs to Mars.

PLRP-3: Operational perspectives conducting science-driven extravehicular activity with communications latency

The Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP) is a unique program where a combination of scientific research and human space exploration concepts are integrated in an underwater spaceflight analog environment. The 2015 PLRP field season took place at Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada, where science-driven exploration techniques focused on microbialite characterization and acquisition. These techniques were evaluated within the context of crew and robotic deep-space extravehicular activity (EVA) operations. The primary objective of this analog study was to detail the capabilities, decision-making processes, and operational concepts required to meet non-simulated scientific objectives during 5-minute one-way communication latency utilizing crew and robotic assets. The relationship and interaction between ground and flight crew was found to be dependent on the specific scientific activities being addressed. Furthermore, the addition of a second intravehicular operator was found to be highly enabling when conducting science-driven EVAs.