During ILEWG EuroMoonMars MDRS Crew 100A Mission, that started on February 12 2011 at the MDRS (MarsDesert Research Station) an analogue Mars environment in the Utah desert (USA), SALM Sainte-Rose, anotheranalogue site on the Piton de la Fournaise volcano in Reunion Island, was named as a Distant Mission Support for asample selection experiment with the assistance of a Parrot quadricopter UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicle). A firstflight of the Parrot was made on sites P2 and P3 on Day09 and the movies were sent by Internet to SALM Sainte-Rose and University of La Reunion for the selection of the preferred areas for sampling. Pictures of selectedlocations on P3 site were sent back to MDRS by SALM Sainte-Rose. A second flight of the Parrot was made onDay10 to take close-up images of the selected spots and again sent to SALM Sainte-Rose where precise indicationof samples was made from film images to study the differences between close-by shaded and exposed areas in twolocations. Pictures of selected samples were sent by Internet to MDRS and on Day11, an EVA was succesfully madeto retrieve the samples for SALM, with duplicates for VU Amsterdam. Sample analyses were made at a later time atSALM Sainte-Rose, for a final report to MDRS EuroMoonMars Crew 100A. Lessons learned from the MDRSsimulation were that UAV reconnaissance of terrain can save time and energy of crews by helping to plan the bestroute for the final sample retrieval EVA, and sample selection may be efficiently made by a science team from adistant location.
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