Science and technology requirements to explore caves in our Solar System
Timothy Titus, J. Judson Wynne, P. J. Boston, Pablo de León, Cansu Demirel‐Floyd, Heather Jones, Francesco Sauro, Kyle Uckert, Ali Aghamohammadi, Calvin Alexander, J. W. Ashley, Armando Azúa-Bustos, Leroy Chiao, G. E. Cushing, John DeDecker, Alberto González Fairén, Amos Frumkin, Jo De Waele, Gary Harris, L. Kerber, Richard Léveillé, Mike Malaska, Kavya Manyapu, Matteo Massironi, Ana Z. Miller, John E. Mylroie, Bogdan P. Onac, Scott Parazynski, C. M. Phillips-Lander, T. H. Prettyman, H. M. Sapers, Norbert Schörghofer, Dirk Schulze‐Makuch, Red Whittaker, K. E. Williams, Uland Wong
Abstract
Research on planetary caves requires cross-planetary-body investigations spanning multiple disciplines, including geology, climatology, astrobiology, robotics, human exploration and operations. The community determined that a roadmap was needed to establish a common framework for planetary cave research. This white paper is our initial conception