## 5 Results
### Space Analogue Mission at Mount Etna, Sicily  
The volcanic foothills of Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy, were chosen as a suitable location for the ARCHES space analogue demonstration mission due to their resemblance to barren extraterrestrial surfaces like the Moon. The mission involved a diverse team of interconnected mobile and static robots, comprising rovers, a drone, and a lander. The team operated collaboratively and semi-autonomously to deploy tools and sensors in the field [19; 27; 28]. Additionally, the ARCHES team collaborated with the ESA METERON project (Multipurpose End-To-End Robotics Operations Network), focusing on preparing for future human-robotic exploration scenarios [29]. Originally scheduled for summer 2020, the ARCHES space analogue demonstration mission faced two postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was ultimately conducted in summer 2022. The entire campaign spanned four weeks, encompassing on-site preparations of hardware, software, and networks, the execution of the demonstration mission, and subsequent dismantling and packing activities. The integrated mission scenario involved a combination of operator instructions and autonomous robot decisions. The mission was organized into two parts for geological exploration (Geo I and Geo II) and a third part, where a low-frequency antenna array was installed in the field as detailed in [19; 27; 28]. Geo I primarily focused on the technical demonstration of cooperating autonomous robotic assets. For this purpose, the two LRUs of DLR were deployed alongside the flying drone ARDEA to autonomously explore the site, provide data for an accurate local map, and perform in-situ analysis. In addition to exploration and scientific measurements, Geo I also demonstrated the end-to-end scientific process of sample selection. In Geo II, the focus was on sample return comprising two additional rovers and featuring teleoperations by an astronaut. The LIBS instrument and its robotic platform, the LRU2, were part of Geo I, and we will focus here on its implementation and performance in this part of the mission scenario. In the overall mission scenario, the Lander arrived at a location that was chosen by scientists and mission operators beforehand, based on orbital data. In Geo I, as a first action, LRU1 and the ARDEA drone are sent for mapping and, hence, to give a visual overview of the landing site in the proximity (max. 50 m distance) of the Lander. For this purpose, the LRU1 is equipped with seven cameras in its pan-tilt unit including a scientific camera, navigation cameras, and wide-angle stereo cameras, see [19] for more details. While LRU1 could successfully perform its task, the ARDEA drone could unfortunately not fly for the demonstration due to too strong winds [28]. The first task of LRU2 in Geo 1 was the collection of a sample box from the Lander and collecting rock and soil samples in the field with a robotic hand coupled to its robotic arm and it completed this task successfully. The second task of LRU2 was then to use the LIBS module to carry out a geochemical analysis of three different rocks at different locations in the area explored by the ARCHES robot team. LRU2 successfully collected the LIBS payload box from the Lander, placed it into the cage on its back and drove to the first target of interest. When an appropriate distance to the target was reached, stereo images were acquired with the rover cameras, and the operating team selected a target from a segmented image (see details described in Section 4 and [40]). The LIBS module was then coupled to the robotic arm and positioned onto the rock, see Figures 2 and 9. Here, the rover commanded the LIBS instrument to initiate the measurement process, which involved the triggering of a sequence of laser pulses and the recording of the spectra of the laser-induced plasmas. The rover then downloaded the data from the LIBS module and transmitted them to mission control, where they were displayed in the ARCHES LIBS GUI and analyzed by the scientific team.