Mars Tumbleweed Rovers Will Rock, Bounce and Roll on Mars What if you could reduce a robotic Mars rover down to a simple ball that gets propelled across the Martian plains under wind power alone? If you were on the Red Planet’s surface, the object would most likely look like a beachball gone wild, but the “tumbleweed” rover design is getting some serious attention from NASA as an unorthodox way to reconnoiter Mars. But as the drivers of rover Opportunity can attest, Mars is covered in rocks and obstacles that require some pretty mean navigation skills. keep reading

Mars Tumbleweed Rovers Will Rock, Bounce and Roll on Mars

What if you could reduce a robotic Mars rover down to a simple ball that gets propelled across the Martian plains under wind power alone? If you were on the Red Planet’s surface, the object would most likely look like a beachball gone wild, but the “tumbleweed” rover design is getting some serious attention from NASA as an unorthodox way to reconnoiter Mars.

But as the drivers of rover Opportunity can attest, Mars is covered in rocks and obstacles that require some pretty mean navigation skills.

keep reading

Source: news.discovery.com

247 notesShowHide

  1. mayjustmakeit reblogged this from discoverynews
  2. boodlesandtonicplz reblogged this from discoverynews
  3. vintage-pain reblogged this from itsfullofstars
  4. multidimensionalxwavelength reblogged this from scishow
  5. beetlebot reblogged this from discoverynews
  6. beloved-falling reblogged this from vinedragonheartstring
  7. speakingtoserenity reblogged this from scishow
  8. vinedragonheartstring reblogged this from scishow and added:
    Mars tumbleweed rovers
  9. existential-singularity reblogged this from discoverynews
  10. muscible reblogged this from scishow
  11. thestarsbeckon reblogged this from itsfullofstars
  12. danifrizzle reblogged this from scishow
  13. kathryn109 reblogged this from scishow
  14. leapmind reblogged this from scishow
  15. therebloggingneverends reblogged this from scishow
  16. secular-science reblogged this from scishow
  17. imjustalittleweary reblogged this from scishow
  18. glorwen reblogged this from scishow
  19. dun-dun-dun-honey-badger reblogged this from scishow
  20. scishow reblogged this from discoverynews
  21. bonedust reblogged this from itsfullofstars
  22. tcbheroine reblogged this from discoverynews
  23. starfoozle reblogged this from itsfullofstars and added:
    MARTIAN. TUMBLEWEED. ROVERS. This is like all my favorite things at once. Engineers who designed these, let me love you.
  24. granthastime reblogged this from discoverynews
  25. stormbear reblogged this from discoverynews
  26. lilclownkid reblogged this from discoverynews
  27. baveshmoorthy reblogged this from discoverynews