In order to explore and learn about other planets, humans need to be able to build autonomous robots that can gather real specimens and data. NASA and other large government and private space agencies are developing such robots with millions of dollars of funding. The vision is to build and program a prototype “mars rover” at ISK and test it out in remote and harsh environments in Kenya such as the Chalbi desert.
Turkana, specifically the Chalbi desert within Turkana, is the driest place in the country and one of the driest places in the world. Additionally, the surface soil and terrain is sandy, and interspersed with rocks and boulders. This gives it an environment comparable to that of the Martian surface. Few locations like this exist in the world, most notably is the Atacama desert in Chile which mimics the surface of Mars even more closely, drawing researchers from around the world. Beyond the environment, Turkana has an established research facility founded by the late anthropologist Richard Leaky, called the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI). This could serve as a base camp or even a facility to be collaborated with.
The goal is to construct a rover that will act as a multipurpose desert capable driving base with many different possible applications. As an example, during a trip to the Turkana Basin Institute, we learned it may be of interest to have a database containing surface level temperature and moisture readings over a large area of desert. This would be an ideal use case as a set of sensors could be installed on the bottom of the rover and with very little human interaction, it could drive a grid, taking data as it went.