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Prof. Dr. Nikolaus J. Kuhn

Department of Environmental Sciences
Profiles & Affiliations

Projects & Collaborations

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Autonomous Robots for In-situ Surface Exploration (ARISE)

Research Project  | 1 Project Members

Future lunar exploration missions will target regions that hold significant potential for transformative

scientific discovery as well as In Situ Research Utilisation (ISRU). Efficient exploration and analysis of

these areas requires robust novel solutions to deploy existing, high TRL scientific instruments. We propose a highly autonomous robot team approach, which will allow a single operator to control a

scalable group of heterogeneous systems while also providing the needed systems to monitor the team

and intervene where necessary. This includes the necessary systems for a team of different robots to

effectively define, share and execute tasks, and tooling for the operator to scale the degree of autonomy

depending on the occurring situations, switching between full autonomy-assisted teleoperation and

several control schemes in between.

Among traditional, wheeled robotic systems, we propose to utilize state-of-the-art walking (legged)

robots to simulate a lunar prospecting mission. The robots use cutting-edge locomotion control

techniques and autonomous operation modes to swiftly overcome obstacles and traverse challenging

terrain. The robotic systems can be equipped with a top-mounted robotic arm and a scientific payload

suite, such as, for example, a UV-VIS-NIR microscope and context imager, as well as spectrometers

to perform rapid sample analysis in the target region.

The team is composed of ambitious - junior and senior - experts from industry, academia in the field of

robotics, payload engineering, and planetary science, eager to push the limits of lunar resource

prospecting.

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Contribution to the Swiss science exploitation of the CLose-UP Imager on the ExoMars 2022 rover mission

Research Project  | 2 Project Members

The close-up imager CLUPI is one of the instruments that will be onboard ESA's "Rosalind Franklin" rover, searching for signs of life in the framework of the joint ESA-Roscosmos "ExoMars 2022" mission. CLUPI will acquire high-resolution images essential to investigate the geology of Mars, selecting samples with a high potential to contain biomarkers. This project includes CLUPI- science validation/training activities aimed at optimizing the scientific return of the instrument during the primary mission on Mars (e.g., determining the ideal lighting conditions and positions relative to rock surfaces, developing drive paths and imaging options enabling the identification of rock types and mineralogy,...). These simulations will be mostly carried out in the "Marslabor" of the Uni Basel, a state-of-the-art Marsyard. The project will also include the development of new image analysis approaches (e.g. using software for determining size and shape of rock forming particles or rock structures such as thickness and patterns of laminae). Starting from the third year of the project, the PhD candidate will have the opportunity to participate in the primary mission and contribute to the interpretation of the images that will be acquired on Mars. Interactions with the Space Exploration Institute of Neuchâtel (headed by Dr. Jean-Luc Josset, PI of the CLUPI instrument), the Naturhistorisches Museum Bern (affiliation of the CLUPI Co-PI Prof. Beda Hofmann), plus collaborations with the international CLUPI science team are foreseen in this highly multidisciplinary project.

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ExoMars CLUPI Operation Testing

Research Project  | 4 Project Members

CLUPI (CLose Up Imager) is a camera system installed on ESA' ExoMars rover designed to acquire high-resolution, colour, close-up images of outcrops, rocks, soils, drill fines and drill core samples. The visual information obtained by CLUPI will be similar to what a geologist would get using a hand lens. The information will be used to identify rocks types and potential biosignatures in those rocks. Nikolaus Kuhn is part of the CLUPI science team. This allows the members of his Physcial Geography and Environmental Science Research Group exclusive access to the data generated by CLUPI after the landing of ExoMars on Mars in March 2021. The preparation of the use fo CLUPI during the ExoMars mission is conducted in the framework of an extensive operations testing in the Marslabor of the University of Basel. A Flight Representative Test Model (FRTM) is provided by the Science Directorate of the European Space Agency to the the CLUPI Science Team lead by Prof. Jean-Luc Josset of the Space Exploration Institute in Neuchâtel. This SRTM will be used for operation testing and mission preparation in the Marslabor of the University of Basel. The cost of CLUPI are an estimated 10 million Euro and paid by the Swiss Space Office. The SRTM provided to the Marslabor of the University of Basel costs approximately 500'000 Euro.

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South African cropland dust emission risks: physical thresholds, environmental and socio-economic impacts

Research Project  | 6 Project Members

Southern African dust sources have been well documented, feature some of the world's dustiest regions, and disperse dust throughout the subcontinent and beyond. The west coast of South Africa produces dust from coastal pans, river valleys, and deltas in both the Namib and Northern Cape regions. Further East, mine tailings in and around Johannesburg (Gauteng province) are among the most studied dust sources in South Africa due to systematic monitoring efforts and immediate impact on nearby urban air quality. However, few studies have drawn attention to dust originating from South Africa's extensive farmland. These areas appear to be most productive in early summer at the onset of the rainy season as part of cold pool outflows from convective storms over the Free State and Northern Cape. Such ground level events have often been reported by the media, but have gone unmonitored due to their association with cloud and rain events. These associations are different from most other dust events that produce elongated plumes during the clear winter months, particularly in Namibia and Botswana, and disperse throughout the region. Nevertheless, the use of Meteosat MSG clearly suggests that southern African events are not infrequent and not insignificant in extent. Exposed agricultural lands are thus important dust sources in South Africa, and the supply of fine dust material may be even more pronounced during drought cycles. Such events represent a loss of soil mass at the site of origin, but also impact ecosystem services further afield and, potentially, contribute to climate change. Microbial and chemical contaminants transported by dust from cropland add to the public health concerns with dust originating from farms and reaching urban areas. The research questions of this four-year project thus are: (i) what are the environmental thresholds for generation of dust (wind, soil moisture soil crust) in relation to farmland management? and, (ii) to what extent do farmland dust sources impact ecosystem services, public health, and potentially climate? This research aims to fill this knowledge gap by using a holistic and interdisciplinary approach spanning geomorphology, land management, and microbiomics. A Swiss - South African partnership of four institutions (University of Basel, Agricultural Research Council, University of Cape Town, and University of Pretoria), which encompasses the necessary expertise, has been formed to conduct this research. The objectives of the project are (i) to identify the spatial and temporal pattern of dust emissions from agricultural land in South Africa, (ii) to determine the environmental boundary conditions for dust emission on South African cropland identified as dust sources, (iii) to identify the impact of land management practices on dust emission and ecosystem services losses, (iv) to identify microbiomics air contamination due to dust, and (iv) to synthetize the above information and produce holistic knowledge on dispersal, impact of dust and thresholds to inform policy in farming systems. Activities and methods will be divided in five interconnected work packages (one WP per objective), using remote sensing of Meteosat and MODIS satellite imagery to identify and quantify dust sources emitted from farmland (WP1), using a rain and wind tunnel simulator to determine crust formation and dust physical boundaries (WP2), using leaf area index and interviews to identify biophysical and management attributes (WP3), using dust samples to determine microbial population phytogenetics, including impacts of the transport of microorganisms, whether suspended in aqueous aerosols or adsorbed to mineral (dust) particles (WP4), and using the results of WP1-4 for a synthesis leading to publish holistic scientific contributions on South African cropland dust emissions, identify farmland management best practices, and inform policy. Dust emission is a growing issue affecting soil mass losses, ecosystem services, public health, and climate change. Understanding dust emission dynamics originating from farming in drylands is crucial not only to prepare and respond to the aforementioned impacts, but also to secure food production in the best possible conditions using marginal lands, a resource becoming increasingly important for food security of a warming planet.

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Mars Sedimentation Experiment Settling Tube Photometer Rack

Research Project  | 1 Project Members

The search for past life on Mars, such as planned for ESA's ExoMars mission, depends on understanding where traces of microorganisms living 3.5 billion years ago can be found today. Typical sites for deposition and preservation are sediments deposited by running water. Their movement is strongly affected gravity, requiring the re-calibration of models developed for Earth. MarsSedEx-STP aims at generating the required data on sediment movement in water on Mars, using the partial gravity during the Martian parabolas offered on board Novespace's A 310 during the 2 nd Swiss Microgravity Campaign. The instrument used for the experiment was developed with support of the Swiss Space Centre by the Physical Geography and Environmental Change research group. it consists of a set of eight settling tubes equipped wit photometers which enable the detection of settling velocities of clouds of fine sediment. Apart from applications on Mars, the technology developed for MarsSedEx-STP can be used on Earth for the rapid detection of the settling of naturally occurring sediments.

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Exchanging mobility for intensification modes of livestock production in African pastoral systems: trade-offs and challenges for pastoralists' climate change adaptive capacity

Research Project  | 2 Project Members

Rangeland systems in drylands support 200 million pastoralists globally who opportunistically make use of scarce and scattered resources by moving their livestock. Mobility is an efficient strategy to cope with increasing drought events induced by climate change. Development models nevertheless promote the intensification of pastoral systems to supply a growing global meat market and support pastoralists' livelihoods. Intensified means of livestock production are often incompatible with a mobility strategy, especially when privatised land tenures prompt pasture fragmentation and underpin long-term ecosystem service diversity losses. The improved livelihood prospects of pastoralists opting for intensification is hence potentially challenged by higher vulnerability to climate change. The proposed consortium seeks to understand pastoralists' climate change adaptive capacity in Africa's drylands under the above transformation process. With intensification, means of livestock production tend to rely on costly inputs, investments, and uncertain external markets (i.e. volatile prices, export bans due to livestock diseases). High-input and output livestock breeds are fed on costly fodder and substitute indigenous genetic livestock resources. Indigenous breeds however have substantial climate change adaptive traits since they require low maintenance, have higher reproductive rates and resistance to diseases. Livestock mobility in resource-scarce environments is critical for seed dispersal and reduces concentration of livestock, contributing to sustainable land management. Institutions and power relations are challenged due to the above transformation. Those who keep mobile modes of production are often marginalized and left with little alternative but to opt for intensification as well, since this economic environment imposes standards and cultural changes. While intensification is gaining momentum globally, subsequent climate change adaptive capacity of pastoralists remains under-studied. There is a scientific and policy knowledge gap on the physical and socio-economic impact of this transformation. Understanding trade-offs, challenges and opportunities of foregoing mobility is critical to inform policy and development actors endorsing an intensification path. This transformation process raises two research questions: 1-How does the climate change adaptive capacity of pastoralists opting for an intensified mode of production compare to those who keep a mobile mode of production? 2-How does an intensification path in African pastoral systems impact physical (land management and land degradation), and socio-economic dynamics (aversion to risk, preparedness and response to climate shocks, institutions, land tenures)? This multidisciplinary WUN consortium of researchers sharing dryland pastoral systems research interests will convene a workshop and a fieldtrip in Botswana's drylands where intensification has been occurring for 40 years. The workshop will reflect on climate change adaptive capacity experiences across African countries due to intensification and deliver a scientific review article and a policy brief. The consortium will establish long-term institutional links between the three partners by jointly drafting a research proposal to bid for a long-term grant. The expected outcome will be an improved and integrated understanding of pastoral systems transformation towards an intensified mode of livestock production, and the resulting impact on climate change adaptive capacity of pastoralists and their livelihoods. This knowledge will further future-proof policy supporting African pastoral communities.