Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Tumbleweed Rover for Marathon Martian Journeys

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the dust-in-the-wind dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A prototype Mars rover, the Tumbleweed, has completed its 40 mile trek across the Antarctic, driven only by winds even in rough terrain over eight days. While the current rovers are designed for flat, equatorial regions, the tumbleweed design is geared to cover longer distances across what many consider the more interesting and dangerous polar regions on Mars."

2 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Difficult task by Doesn't_Comment_Code · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I built a robot for a class once. And after completing it, I have much more respect for the people trying to design these things.

    It's not so hard to make a robot that works. It's all the possible problems that make it hard. And if your robot happens to be on Mars when it breaks... you're SO screwed!

    All the little things... unanticipated terrain, sensor malfunction, wheel gets stuck... the list is endless. Of course, during my project I kept to the smooth carpet and just moved the robot whenever something happened. But these guys have got their work cut out for them.

    No pressure, its just a 3 million dollar robot!

    --

    Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
  2. Re:Does this mean... by dekashizl · · Score: 5, Interesting
    can't they do any better with the incredible lag due to the distance between Earth and Mars?
    The lag (~10 min) affects our real-time control ability, but much of what makes the current rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) so advanced is their autonomous navigation abilities. Ground control says something like "move 100m north" and the rover figures out how to get there, drives itself, so lag isn't an issue at all. They've just been fairly cautious so far utilizing this. As the mission gets further along and past 100% success point, you'll likely see longer autonomous drives, since there is less to lose at that point of rovers fall off a cliff.

    --
    For news, status, updates, scientific info, images, video, and more, check out:
    (AXCH) 2004 Mars Exploration Rovers - News, Status, Technical Info, History.