Say hello to the computer-enhanced astrobiologist. Astronauts may one day wear a piece of kit that will make their task of searching for life on other planets much easier.
Astronauts aboard some previous missions to the moon, such as Apollo 15 in 1971, were trained in geology, enabling them to identify ancient rocks that might reveal signs of water or life. The new system would do away with the need for such specialised training. Instead, a computer would analyse the rock formations in the astronaut鈥檚 field of vision and issue an alert when it detects rock types that need to be sampled.
The prototype consists of a hand-held video camera connected to a wearable computer, but later versions may link the camera to a head-up display within an astronaut鈥檚 visor, says Patrick McGuire, who is leading the Spanish and German project at the Centre for Astrobiology in Madrid, Spain.
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The prototype flags up anything a geologist might find interesting, based on its unusual or distinctive appearance, McGuire says. Later versions may feed image data to a geological 鈥渆xpert system鈥� program designed to analyse images in a similar way to a human geologist.
The team tested the system in Guadalajara province in central Spain, using it to scout for evidence of sandstone beds deposited by water, McGuire鈥檚 team will report in the International Journal of Astrobiology. The system agreed with human geologists 68 per cent of the time.
