**Mining Amorphous Transporter Explorer (MATE) for Far North Mining
Operations**

P.E. Clark, Science Lead, Autonomous Tetrahedral Rover Team, Code 695,
NASA/GSFC

**The Challenge**: The Far North has large mineral reserves and has
historically had large mining operations. Deep precious material mines,
such as those typical of Canada, are productive for a long time but at
greater investment cost than surface operations. Greater commitment to
environmental quality and worker safety has also added to cost. As a
result, the focus of new operations and investments of even Canadian
mining companies is shifting to other locations, many of which lack the
infrastructure of Canada.

**The Goal: Providing a pathway for Canada to reap the benefits of its
reserves in precious materials by retaining mining investments while
maintaining its commitment to environmental quality and worker safety**

**The Proposed Solution: The Mining Amorphous Transporter/Explorer
(MATE) based on our new space architecture (Addressable Reconfigurable
Technology or ART) could provide a pathway to meet this challenge**. The
first versions of ART, tetrahedral walkers, are now in the prototype
stage and being developed as the Autonomous Lunar Manual Assistant ALMA
and Autonomous Lunar Investigator ALI (near term) and Lunar Amorphous
Rover Antenna LARA (far term) for the NASA Exploration Initiative
(Figures 1 and 2).

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="2.583464566929134in"
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height="2.6251968503937007in"}![](media/image3.jpeg){width="2.25in"
height="2.6251968503937007in"}

**ART Systems are designed for staged development and utilize
appropriate technology as available**. We are creating autonomic,
reusable, reconfigurable, highly redundant, efficient, and thus
cost-effective systems which could create the multi-functional
infrastructure called for as part of NASA's Exploration Initiative. ART
(Addressable Reconfigurable Technology) architecture, an approach which
is realizable in stages at any level of technology and promises to
revolutionize space structure design by epitomizing portable
![](media/image4.png){width="0.944488188976378in"
height="0.9992125984251968in"}![](media/image5.png){width="0.9374015748031496in"
height="0.9992125984251968in"}![](media/image6.png){width="0.9381889763779527in"
height="1.0in"}![](media/image7.png){width="0.9374015748031496in"
height="1.0in"}![](media/image8.jpeg){width="3.166535433070866in"
height="2.088976377952756in"}![](media/image9.jpeg){width="2.3744094488188976in"
height="3.1251968503937007in"}'form follows function' at every level.
The basic building unit in this architecture is a tetrahedron, the most
efficient space-filling form, consisting of nodes interconnected with
struts that can be reversibly and/or partially deployed or stowed to
allow the tetrahedron to change its size and shape on command in
seconds. Struts are formed into tetrahedral units interlinked in one
(linear), two (planar), or three (space-filling) dimensions to create
conformable objects. As more tetrahedra are interconnected, the degrees
of freedom are increased and motions evolve from simple to complex, from
stepped to continuous (Figure 2).

***)*** or nano-EMS (Super Miniaturized ART or SMART***)*** become
available, within the next decades, such components could be
incorporated to minimize mass and power requirements. The 3D network of
actuators and structural elements is composed of nodes that are
addressable as are pixels in an LCD screen. Ongoing work on ART
prototypes ![](media/image10.jpeg){width="2.916535433070866in"
height="3.8751968503937007in"}(Tetrahedral Walkers) is providing a basis
for understanding performance and conceptual models for hardware and
software requirements which could support the architecture proposed
here.

**Extreme Mobility**: ART structures are capable of mobility in
extremely rugged environments and don't require the flattened surfaces
preferred by wheels. However, ART structures can form bridges or tunnels
in particularly rugged terrain (e.g., large ravines) to make that
terrain efficiently accessible or usable for other purposes, such as
mining operations (Figure 3, Table 2). This could be done without the
use of heavy-duty terraforming equipment. Components could deploy
themselves for a particular function, then stow and transport themselves
to a new location, transform themselves as required for a new function,
all with or without a human crew. Structures are also required to
operate under extreme cold (such 50 degree K at the lunar poles). The
ultimate goal is to create structures capable of routine self servicing,
including recharging, retrieving, replacing, recycling its components as
required in a cost/effective manner.

**Progressive Autonomy in Command and Control**: Tetrahedral systems are
designed to be capable of autonomic movement (low level intelligence),
deploying and stowing struts in a 'gaited' manner learned in advance to
be appropriate for a terrane or application. Feedback is provided by
touch and motion sensors on each node combined with the laser
vision/navigation system. The highly addressable structure must operate
in highly irregular terrain, where locomotion requires an intimate
blending of dynamics and statics. Most means of locomotion try to
\"finesse\" the situation by somehow glossing over the complexity of the
terrain: typically, rovers have featured wheels or legs that are larger
than the terrain scale sizes, or locomotion that is slow to allow expert
computer systems time to figure out where to go next. The 12 TET rover
will become a moving part of the terrain, its vision system providing
volumetric information about its surroundings. With information about
the geometry of its environment as well as information about its own
geometry, the 12 TET places itself within and moves through its
environment. Autonomic control is achieved through a Neural Basis
Function (NBF) software architecture used reactively to define, control,
and organize the network of actuators responsible for 12 TET motion.
NBFs are composed of multiple control systems within an Evolvable Neural
Interface (ENI) which acts as an active communication medium between the
control elements. Separate behaviors of the 12 TET are typically
instantiated as separate NBFs: to add new behaviors the aim is to simply
link the ENI of the new behavior into the system and then allow the ENIs
to adapt the old and new components to each other.

At present, target or activity selection (high level intelligence) is
made through a wireless interface with a human user (telepresence). We
are developing a virtual reality model and high level command language
for user wireless communication interface. The ultimate goal is to
create a system with bilevel intelligence, which would mean carrying
high level intelligence capability onboard for entirely robotic
operation. The high-level components generally rely on a more symbolic
approach to control and may involve planning and schedule and other
heuristic control. The NBFs for the 12 TET are built on what we have
learned by applying the NBF architecture to a control system for
autonomous rendezvous and capture of a chaotically tumbling target, a
problem inspired by the Hubble Space Telescope Rescue mission.

**Vision/Navigation**: Tetrahedral devices require a robust
vision/navigation system with minimum power and bandwidth requirements
currently under development here. The system will be required to provide
feedback rapidly while the vehicle is in motion, locate small obstacles
within meters of its immediate path, such as boulders, as well as remote
hazards tens of meters away in the direction of motion such as cliffs.
The candidate 3-D Vision system that best meets our requirements is
already under development for a wide range of deep space, orbital, and
surface exploration applications. It is laser-based 'scannerless' range
imaging system consisting of a laser diode emitter array, low power
high-resolution time-of-flight ranging electronics, and a mega-channel
fiber-optic based receiver. All of these components are extremely
efficient, compact, and robust, and combine together to make a highly
reliable 3-D imaging system. Our concept utilizes two distinct imaging
systems; one capable of short-range, high-resolution imaging to support
local maneuvering and immediate hazard detection; the second a longer
range imager for trajectory planning and large-scale hazard avoidance.

**Operational Constraints for Canadian Mining**: The Far North is still
relatively inaccessible and thus unexplored but known to have extensive
mineral potential.

1\) Tens of kilometers long ultramafic surface deposits from collapsed
volcanic structures provide relatively accessible nickel and platinum
group metals. MATE could assist in locating these deposits by carrying a
geochemical exploration payload over exceedingly rough and variable
terrain.

2\) In recent years, diamonds have been found in vertical kimberlite
pipes exposed at deep-seated fractures in the continental craton. MATE
could assist both in locating these deposits and operating in relay
fashion to transport equipment and ore in vertical shafts.

3\) The continental craton of the far north has extensive hydrothermal
veins (metalliferous

lodes), deposits of native gold, silver or other metal sulfides in
quartz or calcite. Such veins occur in fault or fissure openings or
shear zones within country rock and are characteristically narrow
compared to their length and depth. Veins form an irregular plumbing
system, generated by fluids made hot by contact with intrusive rock
rising through faults, factures, and porous layers of surrounding rock.
Veins range from a few centimeters to a few meters but average about a
meter in thickness. They may be hundreds of meters longs and deep.
Mineralization, or formation of native ore deposits, occurs in shoots
within a vein. The highest temperature, richest, least diluted by ground
water hypothermal deposits occur at depth. Lower temperature, more
diluted, but more accessible epithermal deposits occur nearer the
surface. MATE could assist both in locating these deposits and operating
in relay fashion to transport equipment and ore in narrow horizontal or
vertical shafts.

**Operational Requirements for Canadian Mining: MATE** could support
critical operations at each stage of the mining process (Figure 4).

1\) Reconnaissance. This would involve rover exploration to identify a
geological of a promising terrane as an outcrop of a potential vein,
pipe, or surface deposit.

2\) Survey. This would involve using a payload to gather local
geochemical and geophysical measurements or samples for more extensive
analysis to confirm the presence of a promising ore deposit sufficiently
to justify a drilling campaign. Promising hydrothermal vein outcrops may
have low concentrations of ore minerals with rich ore shoots may occur
below, either down dip or along strike. Therefore, geochemical markers
including associated high silica, and sulfur-bearing minerals, and a
trace element 'halo' including arsenic, antimony, mercury, thallium and
selenium.

3\) Drilling. MATE vehicles could move along narrow shafts, changing
shape, sliding through narrow openings, chimneying up or down vertical
faces, conveying ore or equipment in relay fashion.

**The Conclusion:** The ART architecture under development for lunar
exploration has great potential to increase the feasibility and
profitability of mining operations in the Far North.

**References:** 1. Curtis, S.A., Truszkowski,W.F., Rilee, M.L., and
Clark, P.E., 2003, ANTS for the Human Exploration and Development of
Space. Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE Aerospace Conference; 2. Clark,
P.E., Rilee, M.L., Curtis, S.A., Cheung, C.Y., Marr, G., Truszkowski,
W., Rudisill, M., LARA: Near Term Reconfigurable concepts and components
for lunar exploration and exploitation, *IAC Proceedings*, 2004a,
IAC-04-IAA.3.8.1.08; 3. P.E. Clark, S.A. Curtis, M.L. Rilee, S.R. Floyd
(2005) ALI (Autonomous Lunar Investigator): Revolutionary Approach to
Exploring the Moon with Addressable Reconfigurable Technology, Lunar and
Planetary Science XXXVI; 4. http://ants.gsfc.nasa.gov

![](media/image11.jpeg){width="6.166535433070866in"
height="2.8751968503937007in"}**Final Note: All Tetrahedral Technology
(ART, ALI, ALMA, LARA, MATE) discussed here is protected by NASA Patent
Applications.**

**Point of Contact: P.E. Clark, Code 695, NASA/GSFC**

**301 286 7457 pamela.clark@gsfc.nasas.gov**