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Digital Twin for Analog Mars Missions: Investigating Local Positioning Alternatives for GNSS-Denied Environments.
Benjamin Reimeir1,2, Amelie Leininger3, Raimund Edlinger4
1Institute of Mechatronics, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
|August 14, 2025
Summary
Digital twins enhance Mars mission planning by integrating astronaut and rover data. Alternative localization methods show promise for GPS-denied environments, improving safety and scientific return.
Area of Science:
- Space exploration technology
- Robotics and automation
- Human-robot interaction
Background:
- Planetary exploration missions require robust human-robot interaction for astronaut safety and scientific discovery.
- Digital twins are emerging as critical tools for simulating and optimizing complex operations like extravehicular activities (EVAs).
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a digital twin for the AMADEE-24 analog Mars mission.
- To assess alternative local positioning methods for enhancing digital twin utility in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-denied environments.
Main Methods:
- Integrated telemetry from Aouda space suit simulators, Inertial Measurement Unit Motion Capture (IMU-MoCap), and Intuitive Rover Operation and Collecting Samples (iROCS) rover sensor data.
- Evaluated Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM)-based rover positioning and IMU-MoCap for astronaut localization.
- Compared performance against Global Positioning System (GPS) and Adaptive Cluster Detection.
Main Results:
- The developed digital twin successfully reconstructed all nine experiment runs.
- SLAM-based rover positioning and IMU-MoCap astronaut localization demonstrated performance comparable to GPS.
- Adaptive Cluster Detection exhibited greater deviations, while IMU-MoCap required intermittent GPS recalibration due to measurement discontinuities.
Conclusions:
- Alternative localization techniques, particularly SLAM and IMU-MoCap, are viable for digital twin integration in GNSS-denied scenarios.
- These methods hold significant potential for improving the reliability and effectiveness of future planetary exploration missions.
- Further refinement of IMU-MoCap is needed to address measurement limitations for seamless integration.
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