Generating Commands for the Mars Polar Lander Robotic Arm

A report discusses the use of the Web Interface for Telescience (WITS) for visualization and command sequence generation in the Mars Polar Lander (MPL) mission. WITS, which has been described in prior articles in NASA Tech Briefs, is an Internet-based software system that enables geographically dispersed scientists and engineers to participate in sequence generation for planetary lander and rover missions. Public outreach versions of WITS enable the general public to use WITS to view mission images and plan and simulate their own missions. WITS enables scientists to view mission data and generate command sequences from their home institutions, making it unnecessary for them to travel to a mission control center to participate in the mission. The present report describes how WITS fits in the MPL mission operations architecture and how it was used for Robotic Arm and Robotic Arm Camera sequence generation.