Next Martian Rover Goes Through its Paces
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Everyone has been excited about the discoveries of Spirit and Opportunity, the two robotic rovers crawling across the surface of Mars well past the time their mission was expected to end. Here on earth, though, scientists are putting a prototype for the next generation of robotic explorers through its paces. Read on for a glimpse of what the next pioneer on Mars might be able to tell us.
Carnegie Mellon University must be the happening school when it comes to robotics research – not to mention desert-based research. The school is fielding not one, but two teams and vehicles for the DARPA Grand Challenge, which pushes autonomous vehicles to their limits in a race through challenging desert terrain. Another group of researchers from Carnegie Mellon has been working with NASA’s Ames Research Center since 2003 on technology that NASA expects to use in the next rover to set tire treads on Mars.
That next rover needs to be good. Spirit and Opportunity are a tough act to follow. Touching down on Mars in January 2004, these never-say-quit explorers have been sending history-making information and images back to scientists almost since the moment they landed. They’ve captured the dreams and imaginations of people throughout the world, and fueled hopes of a manned exploration trip to Mars. If such a trip does happen, it’s likely that scientists will choose landing sites and areas for the human researchers to examine based largely on information collected by the two rovers.
Perhaps the one thing these rovers have yet to discover is the answer to the question of life on Mars. The question continues to fascinate, as it has for centuries. Does life exist now on Mars, even in the form of microorganisms? If not, has life ever existed on Mars? As of yet, Spirit and Opportunity have turned up some tantalizing clues, but nothing definitive. And it’s more than an academic question; the kinds of answers we find from unmanned exploration of the Martian surface will help determine whether a manned mission is sent to Mars at all. That’s a heavy load to place on vehicles not much bigger than go-carts.
Next: A Vehicle for Finding Signs of Life >>
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