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Rovers |
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Even with the development of
increasingly precise landers, we don't want to be stuck in just one
spot on Mars. Rovers give us the ability to explore an area outside
the landing ellipse. Our first rover to visit Mars, Sojourner,
traveled about 100 meters (100 yards) over an entire month. The next two
rovers to visit Mars will be part of a mission launching in 2003.
These identical rovers, called Mars Exploration Rovers,
will land on different parts of the planet and each will be able to
cover up to 100 meters (0.062 miles) in a day. Both twins are also expected to
have the ability to range over approximately 1 kilometer in the
duration of their mission.
Unlike Sojourner, the twin rovers
will be completely independent of their landers once they reach the
planet and will communicate directly with Earth. They will rely on
smart technologies to know where they are, where they want to
go and which soil and rock samples are worth studying and
collecting.
Future Rovers
To explore the planet further, future
generations of rovers must go farther and move faster. When the
range of the rover is larger than the uncertainty in where it lands,
it is possible to reach small targets of exceptional scientific interest
such as a channel where water is believed to have seeped out of
the ground. One approach to long-range mobility is inflatable
rovers,
which would use very large, inflatable wheels to climb over rocks,
instead of traveling around them. This would allow inflatables to
travel much farther and faster than current rovers. These rovers
are only inflated after arrival on the Mars surface. Prior to
inflation, they are lighter and, when deflated, can be packed in
a smaller volume than a conventional rover of the same physical
size. When deployed, the inflatable rover is approximately 50
times its packed volume; a conventional rover is only two or three
times bigger than when packed.
Future rovers will also be "smarter"
and able to reconfigure themselves to the terrain. For instance, a
rover may have an adjustable shoulder that allows it to drop low
to the ground or elevate itself to navigate through a gully or
crater. They will conduct more sophisticated experiments such as
using ground-penetrating radar to search for evidence of water.
Future rovers will also maneuver to precision rendezvous with
other surface vehicles such as the carriers. Eventually, teams of
robotic rovers will work together to build an infrastructure of
robotic colonies, laying the groundwork for human visits and
human bases. Thus, if human exploration is indeed possible on
the Red Planet one day, it will be robotic rovers that pave the
way.
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