Lava tube caves offer protection from surface hazards and may be among the few human- or robot- accessible locations on other planets that could preserve evidence of microbial life. They yield…

This is a $2,233,117.72 cooperative agreement awarded by the Shared Services Center of a civilian federal agency to Blue Marble Space, a non-profit organization based in Clayton, Delaware. The contract, titled "Biologic and Resource Analog Investigations in Low Light Environments (BRAILLE)", is focused on conducting terrestrial field campaigns to compare ground-truth data collected from cave environments with measurements taken by a rover science platform. This research aims to test the performance and capabilities of the robotic system under operational conditions and further the fundamental understanding of cave astrobiology. The contract does not utilize any set-aside designations and has an ultimate completion date of August 15, 2024.

Lava tube caves offer protection from surface hazards and may be among the few human- or robot- accessible locations on other planets that could preserve evidence of microbial life. They yield access to the subsurface and are natural settings where biology is protected from environmental extremes (surface radiation, thermal variations), geologic history is exposed and preserved, and subsurface resources (H20, liquid and solid) may be accessible. IT is an austere environment for microbial life, with dramatic changes in light moving inward from the cave entrance. We will conduct terrestrial field campaigns in which we compare ground-truth data collected from the cave environments with measurements conducted using a rover science platform. These activities will be combined with input from a remotely located mission team, who will process operational and scientific data collected by the rover and its payload. This will provide US with the opportunity to test the performance and capabilities of the robotic system under operational conditions and conduct fundamental research on cave astrobiology.