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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."

5 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Rover by blamanj · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Anyone else reminded of The Prisoner? (Rover is pic in upper right corner.)

  2. Who is number one? by techmuse · · Score: 0, Redundant

    This rover bears a remarkable resemblance to Rover, the beloved and slightly deadly spherical guard on the island from The Prisoner.

    (You are, number 6.)

  3. Hold on a second... by Entropius · · Score: 3, Redundant

    Isn't the atmosphere of Mars only a few percent as dense as Earth's atmosphere?

    Doesn't seem like the swooshing of the diffuse Martian atmosphere would provide enough force to shove even a highly-engineered tumbleweed around...

    1. Re:Hold on a second... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Redundant
      >> Isn't the atmosphere of Mars only a few percent as dense as Earth's atmosphere?

      Someone correct me on this if I'm wrong.

      Yes, Mars' atmosphere is less dense than ours, I think it's more like 20% than 2%, but I don't know. However, IIRC, windspeed on Mars can be quite fast. Even if the air is 1/10th as dense, a 200kph wind is going to push a large object, especially if it is ball shaped (or otherwise able to be moved without much friction).

      Again, this device isn't required to travel X miles every day, so covering half a mile in a week is great if the probe's design allows your mission to last for 10 years instead of 10 months.

  4. Cribbing from 60s TV by Dotnaught · · Score: 1, Redundant

    These were field tested extensively on The Prisoner, as can be seen from the picture.