New Tools to Automatically Generate Derived Products upon Downlink Passes for Mars Science Laboratory Operations

As the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission continues into its third extended mission, the value of automating operational procedures grows increasingly important. The Operational Product Generation Subsystem (OPGS) of MSL is responsible for generating Level 0 products for all rover instruments (including non-imaging) and downstream Level 1 products for the engineering cameras. Mosaic imagery generated by the OPGS team on downlink assessment is comprised of data from the Navcam and Mastcam camera instruments. OPGS downlink analysts are responsible for generating key mosaics from the automatically generated single frame products for tactical and strategic operations. On Mars landed missions, data is transmitted to Earth in discrete passes that correspond to orbiter overflights, which are then assessed by representatives from each subsystem when there is a downlink assessment for the rover. Product generation at downlink assessment nominally takes 1 hour and 15 minutes to complete, and each data production process follows a specific procedure. Automating these processes reduces the time required to generate products from 1 hour and 15 minutes of intensive activity to a 10-minute validation process. Additionally, the current downlink analyst role requires up to two months training; with this automation effort, the need for learning complex procedures is greatly reduced. Beyond saving time for the analyst, automating the pilot position decreases the delay between downlink and delivering mosaics to the science users and uplink team. Giving researchers quicker access to the data is highly desirable especially as the science team is spread out across many geographic locations and time zones. It also automates and deterministically adheres to a rigid process, which allows for uniformity in all mosaic creation. In addition, it allows robustness to modifying the process as future requirements change, without the overhead of thorough user training.