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Live From Mars ended in December 1997. Please see Mars
Team Online for a more recent project about Mars.
Mars Rovers
and Robotic Rover Research
A key element of Mars missions is the use of remotely controlled small robotic
rovers for planet surface exploration. NASA has an ongoing program designed
to develop telerobotic capabilities for remote mobility and manipulation.
Space robotics technology requirements include: the need for manual
and automated control, nonrepetitive tasks, time delay between operator
and manipulator, flexible manipulators with complex dynamics, novel locomotion,
operations in the space environment, and the ability to recover from unplanned
events.
Below is a list of planetary surface robotics targeted for use on Mars:
- Sojourner: arrived on Mars
July 4, 1997, to explore the terrain of Mars within sight of the Pathfinder
lander, conducting technology and science experiments.
- Marsokhod: a joint U.S.
and Russia effort used to test a variety of new sensors and operational
capabilities, a part of Intelligent
Mechanisms Group at NASA Ames.
- Rocky 7 Prototype Mars Rover:
designed to demonstrate new technology concepts for use in a long-range
(50 km) traversal across Mars, scheduled for early in the next decade.
- Nomad: robotic rover
designed by Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute explores a desert in
northern Chile to test
the ability of the robot to navigate, explore and perform science tasks
remotely.
- NASA Space
Telerobotics Program: an overview of NASA's ongoing research program
to develop new telerobotics technologies.
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