First ISS-To-Earth 'Handshake' Demonstrates Space-to-Ground Remote Control
Zothecula writes: NASA astronaut Terry Virts, aboard the International Space Station, and ESA telerobotics specialist André Schiele, in the Netherlands, made space history this week with the first telerobotic "handshake" between space and Earth. Using special force feedback joysticks that acquire force data and create the sensation of pressure, Virts and Schiele brought the agencies closer to allowing astronauts in remote locations to naturally and safely control robotic devices and perform potentially dangerous or otherwise impossible tasks.
This was a test of haptic telerobotics from orbit. It is being tested from Earth orbit because IT'S A TEST. It would suck to get to Mars before finding problems that only show up under certain conditions that we could have found closer to home.