Emily Ford

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Research Project

While Astronauts are on the Moon for the Artemis 3 mission, they will be using maps and landmarks to navigate rather than using a GPS equivalent. Over the Summer of 2024, activities were performed to replicate this process, and GPS logs and GoPro footage were obtained. I am studying the accuracy of in-field position estimates recorded at a previous date by using the GPS logs and GoPro footage. The discrepancies between the GPS data and the estimates given in the field will be analyzed. By studying these, I will also examine other factors, such as proximity to landmarks or the terrain of the area traversed and how this may have affected the accuracy. The goal is to analyze and understand the potential errors in position estimates. 

Academic Goals:

• Complete my Undergraduate Degree with Geology BS and minors in Geotechnology and Mathematics 

• Expand my knowledge on Planetary Geology and Space Science

• Improve Scientific Communication: Scientific Writing, Speaking/Presenting, and Networking

Skills I Want to Work On: 

• Learning Python/Increasing my knowledge of C++

• Increasing my understanding of ArcGIS Pro

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For 12/8:

• Thin sections

  • Count 4 more (hold off on Erika's)

• Rasters:

  • Send SKN a detailed workflow with screenshots showing the entire process and outputs

  • Follow-up with Bailee

  • check opacity; are the "ridges" still visible? Should they exist (check RGB)?

  • Try lichen-specific NDVI

• AstroTracks:

  • Put astroTracks and video interps into Arc

    • for video interps that are ambiguous, it's ok to draw a buffer around your point

    • Only after you have locked in those points, add in the GPS tracks

    • Make a table that shows the distances between the true location and the astronaut and video interp points

For 12/1:

• Thin sections:

  • Point count, plan for 1000 points per slide, ID whatever is in the crosshairs

• Rasters:

  • Send SKN copies of the NDVI outputs, including color ramps and scales

    • check opacity; are the "ridges" still visible? Should they exist (check RGB)?

  • Try lichen-specific NDVI

• AstroTracks:

  • Finish the self-placement record and start on revised placement interpretation.

• Read paper about point counting at COTM (Chadwick), write abstract

For 11/17: 

• Thin sections:

  • If no reply by Wednesday, re-email ER

  • Finish bestiary of targets, including rough % estimates of species for each slide

  • Work with DC on point-count on 11/11

• Rasters: 

  • Sounds like an error with turning rasters into bands. Get everything prepped in DML and grab SKN to see what's going wrong with the composite bands tool. Or maybe we don't need composite bands because it's already a composite? Follow up when you can open files.

• AstroTracks:

  • Nearly done with video 1 for recording self-placement. Finish the self-placement record and start on revised placement interpretation.

Tasks for 11/10:

• Thin sections:

  • Check in with Erika about location numbers

  • Do the little green monsters really not change color? Do they all have the same shape?

  • Finish bestiary of targets, including rough % estimates of species for each slide

  • Pick one slide for first point count and start on that this week (ask DC about stage setup)

• Rasters:

  • Lichen NDVI: write summary with images

• Hold: start watching the Su25 tracks

Tasks for 11/3:

• Rasters:

  • Move to Shared Drive

  • Finish redo of last one

  • Do lichen NDVI

• Thin sections:

  • Create a bestiary of targets

    • What populations are you looking for? Do you have any sub-populations based on shape/texture? What do the different things look like? Do you have a clear difference between phenocrysts and groundmass?

    • Estimate %s of each of your populations

    • Take notes on any interesting features on a slide for future SEM-EDS study

• Compile tracking data from Su2025 into organized folder system

Tasks for 10/16:

• Focus: iLife poster

  • Get Arc situation sorted - work with SKN in DML 10/10?

  • May need to redo initial raster analyses

  • Redo NDVI for lichen view

Tasks for 10/9:

• Astronaut hikes (low priority)

  • review videos and gps tracks 

• Spectral lava

  • Redo NDVI (go back to original files), check for expected values. See SKN if values are wonky

    • Can we link to specific types of veg? Can we "see" lichen?

      • Look for papers that cite the lichen index for info about hydration sensitivity

    • Check the weather for the week leading up to the imagery date

• Finish file reorganization

• CITI training - let SKN know when done

• Hold off: Rothery & Lefebvre

• ILife prep

  • Poster draft - send stuff to SKN as you go

Tasks for 9/25:

• Astronaut hikes

  • review videos and gps tracks (low priority)

• Spectral lava

  • Redo NDVI, check for expected values. See SKN if values are wonky

    • Can we link to specific types of veg? Can we "see" lichen?

  • Reflectance vs albedo? Also, watch for reply from ER

  • Rothery & Lefebvre: check library holdings, ILL if not there

  • Send SKN copies of the papers you're reading/summarizing this week

• CITI training - let SKN know when done

Tasks for 9/18:

• Astronaut hikes

  • Solve data transfer problem

    • organize content on ISU machines

    • remove Arc from laptop, clean hard drive (?). Get hardware help as needed. 

  • If time: Review videos and GPS tracks

• Spectral lava

  • Finish comparing NDVI to knowledge of veg and spectral interest areas

    • Can we link to specific types of veg? Can we "see" lichen?

  • Email Bailee to ask about downloads; {SKN email CB about access}

  • Search for relevant papers (Rothery & Lefebvre, 1985; Beal et al., 2016; etc.)

    • If time, start reading and writing summaries

Tasks for 9/11:

• Astronaut hikes:

  • IRB {SKN}

  • Organize files

  • Review videos and GPS tracks from Su25

• Spectral lava

  • Email Erika

  • Run NDVI for areas of interest

• {SKN: talk to Joseph about CPI EPAF}

Summer internship at U of I!

Tasks for 5/22:

• Update astronaut guide and plans

  • move plans to ArcPro, include estimates of walking time and number of stops; aim for 6 hrs

• Read/summarize at least 1 spectroscopy paper from Rader (or citations therein)

  • how does that relate to astronaut plan ideas?

• If time: read/summarize a lunar paper about ISR 

Tasks for 5/1:

• (Finish classes, study for exams)

• If time: update astronaut guide and plans

Tasks for 4/24:

• Read/abstract Paladino diss chapter on lunar lava tubes

• If time: update astronaut guide and plans

Tasks for 4/17:

• incorporate revisions

• homework!

Tasks for 4/10:

• move plans to ArcPro, include estimates of walking time and number of stops; aim for 6 hrs

  • Update astronaut instructions

• {SKN: feedback on abstracts}

Tasks for 3/20:

• move plans to ArcPro, include estimates of walking time and number of stops; aim for 6 hrs

• write detailed explanation for the astronauts to actually do the plans, including where they should collect samples or do detailed terrain descriptions

• Review Volcanoes Ch 7 (lava flows) and 18 (extraterrestrial volcanoes) for additional background

Tasks for 3/6:

• Revise Zhiguo et al. abstract

• Add questions to Kreslavsky abstract

• Hold: 

  • move plans to ArcPro, include estimates of walking time and number of stops; aim for 6 hrs

  • write detailed explanation for the astronauts to actually do the plans

Tasks for 2/27:

• Make new traverse plans using NAIP imagery 

• Read/summarize Kreslavsky et al. (2013)

Tasks for 2/20:

• Revise guidelines again

• Make 3 proposed tracks for astronauts to follow at COTM

• SEMINAR!!

Tasks for 1/31:

• revise guidelines for video viewer

• Keep pushing on estimated coordinates

• Add questions to Hughes summary and conclusions to Beaton

• Read/summarize Zhiguo et al. (2014)

• {SKN: email Brent and Alex}

Tasks for 12/13:

• Exams! (Then get back to stuff)

Tasks for 12/6:

• Make draft of guidelines for next summer's work

  • Guide for astronauts

  • Guide for viewers

• Keep watching videos

• Find H1 maps from Craters for North Crater Flow

• Read/summarize Hughes et al. (2019) and Beaton et al. (2019)

Tasks for 11/22:

• Get GIS from Dali, ask about the bound maps from the field

• Keep watching videos

Tasks for 11/13:

• Create shared drive and organize files, including making a list of what you have (and what might be missing), label/organize content by date

• Watch videos

• Print maps

• Clean up summaries

Tasks for 11/6:

• Go through materials from Dali

  • make plan

  • attempt

• Read/summarize next 2 papers (Artemis overview and VIPER overview)

Tasks for 10/30:

• Revise project description to start with contextual framing

• Summaries/responses:

  • Basilevsky et al. (2019)

  • Fisher et al. (2017)

• Email Dali to set up a time to chat about the traverse stuff

Tasks for 10/23:

• Populate upper portion of website (suggestions):

  • photo of self or something relevant to topic

  • 1-2 sentence summary of intended project

  • Academic/professional goals

  • Specific skills you have or are working on building throughout the project

• Read the following papers and write abstracts/summaries (key content, any open questions, etc.) Start a running Google Doc and share with SKN

  • History of EVAs (focus on Apollo era) Wilde et al. (2002)

  • Lunar targets for Artemis. Gawronska et al. (2020)