An Analysis of the Intelligent Robotics Group’s Experience with the Mars Exploration Rover Mission

Abstract

From December 2003 through March 2004, a number of members of the Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) at NASA Ames traveled to Pasadena, California, to aid the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). During May 2004, Kristen Stubbs spent two weeks at NASA Ames with the IRG. During this time, she conducted two sets of interviews with seven of the IRG team members who spent time working at JPL on the MER mission. The first set of interviews focused on the work that the team did for the MER mission, whereas the second set of interviews focused on the lessons that the team members learned while working on the mission. This study is the result of an analysis of all of the thirteen interviews that were conducted. The primary goal of the IRG team was to assist the MER mission scientists by providing a variety of services and data products. As the IRG team members described their experiences, several major themes emerged. These included lessons learned about the importance of face-to-face communication and the challenges of working with mission management and mission scientists.