Unveiling Mars’ Mysteries: How marslab Transformed Data Analysis for the Mars 2020 Mission

Enhancing Mars Exploration through Streamlined Data Analysis: The Success of Million Concepts’ marslab Application Suite
 
Introduction
 
To explore the deep mysteries of Mars, the scientists who work with NASA’s Perseverance rover must analyze complex remote sensing multispectral data: pictures the rover takes in colors humans cannot see. To address this obstacle, Million Concepts, an OpenTeams partner created the innovative marslab application suite. The powerful tools in marslab streamlined data analysis pipelines and workflows, enabling analysts to generate valuable insights quickly while maintaining consistency and adaptability. Let’s delve into how this partnership revolutionized data analysis for the mission.
 
The Challenges of Multispectral Data Analysis
 
Multispectral images are irreplaceable tools for revealing the material properties of objects, but they are very complex and humans cannot truly see them without technical help. This means that analysts need many different representations of multispectral data to make scientific interpretations. Because these interpretations inform daily rover operations, data must be processed very accurately on a turnaround time of hours. Standards and preferences for representations also evolve over the course of a mission; this necessitates systems that can rapidly adapt to changing needs. And, of course, full auditability of the processing chain is required to support scientific reproducibility.
 
Enter marslab – A Solution for Efficient Data Analysis
 
Million Concepts developed the marslab software suite to address these challenges. marslab is a set of interoperable tools for performing rapid, reliable, and reproducible analyses of large volumes of data. Their solution improved time-to-value for analysis of new data from from days to seconds and enabled insights that were previously impossible due to time and resource constraints.
 
Composition: Empowering Analysts with Functional Programming
 
At the heart of marslab lies the Composition framework, which provides a powerful and versatile platform for domain-specific functional programming in Python. Analysts can define intricate image processing pipelines without altering the core application code, mitigating the risks associated with code changes. This approach allows end users, even those with limited programming experience, to modify pipeline executions without unintended side effects. By abstracting complex data flow and API integration, Composition simplifies the creation and modification of data analysis pipelines.
 
Look: Streamlining Pipeline Creation:
 
Look, a component of the marslab suite, focuses on the creation of image processing pipelines. It offers a user-friendly interface that streamlines the pipeline definition process, ensuring analysts can generate browse products swiftly and efficiently. With Look, analysts can define and execute pipeline operations with ease, facilitating the rapid generation of visual representations for better understanding and decision-making.
 
marslab has offered the Mars 2020 Mission a wide range of benefits:
 
  1. Labor Savings and Time-to-Value: marslab reduced the complexity of creating and executing image processing pipelines. Tasks that previously took days now take hours, and tasks that previously took hours now take minutes. At a low estimate, marslab saves roughly 40 hours of analyst time per week, and also lets junior personnel perform tasks that previously required the very limited time of senior analysts.
  2. Enhanced Collaboration and Time-to-Value: Analysts can now rapidly create new statistical and qualitative views on data without extensive programming knowledge, which makes data analysis not only faster but also more accessible to a broader range of users. These simplified workflows allowed collaboration in real time on insights that would previously have required years-long research projects, supporting efficient decision-making throughout the mission.
  3. Consistency and Adaptability: The marslab suite ensures that browse products are consistent and reliable, even as standards evolve. Its adaptability has allowed swift implementation of new browse products, addressing emerging needs and facilitating informed decision-making.
  4. Flexibility for Diverse Instruments and Data Sources: marslab was designed to accommodate a wide array of instruments and data sources. Whether analyzing Mars 2020 Mastcam-Z, MSL Mastcam (MCAM), or other multi- and hyperspectral imagers, marslab provided reference implementations and compatibility with consumer RGB(A) image formats. This flexibility made the suite adaptable to various mission requirements and data sources.

Conclusion

Million Concepts’ marslab suite revolutionized data analysis for NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. By providing a versatile platform for data analysis and image processing, marslab empowers analysts to generate valuable insights quickly and consistently. The suite’s flexibility, adaptability, and simplified workflow supports efficient decision-making and enhanced collaboration. marslab is a game-changer: it facilitates the exploration of Mars and paves the way for future missions by combining cutting-edge technology and expertly-engineered data analysis tools.

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About Million Concepts

Million Concepts is a full-stack software development, research, and consulting company with special expertise in remote sensing, big data, and interaction design for domain experts. We mostly solve hard problems in space, but we like to solve them on Earth too. We develop custom, innovative solutions by drawing on deep expertise across many disciplines, including science, software engineering, business, design, and ethnography. We will immerse ourselves in your world, learn about your problems, and fix them.

 

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