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Spaceballs Could Invade Mars

Posted by timothy on from the honey-I-blew-up-the-grey-soccer-ball dept.

Byteme writes: "CNN reports giant tethered inflatable balls that are being developed by NASA as a potential alternative to the unsuccessful roving robots. The balls apparently will inflate and deflate to catch favorable wind directs and to stop on location. Not quite the fast, cheap and out-of-control solution... but it could be fun to watch!" I wonder if there are any MPEGs of the test this article talks about -- it sounds pretty fun to watch.

2 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Makes for some bad PR though... by moniker_21 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I like the idea of a sperical object not having to worry about getting hung up on rocks and all, but what are they going to announce?

    "We have successfully landed our balls on Mars!"

    and in a notoriously bad quote

    "Remote vehicle landing specialist John Doe says he feels so lucky to have his job in that he gets to play with NASA's balls everyday."

    Sorry, but that just sounds wrong.

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  2. More information from NASA by Skyfire · · Score: 5, Informative

    Alright, here is a link with a little more info and a couple more pictures:
    http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/behind/tumblewee d1.html

    And here is a place with a video of a test(Realplayer):
    http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/technology/tumblewe ed_rovers.html

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