rover

12.03.09

Video: ExoMars Rover Goes for a Test Drive

Europe's Mars rover tests its depth perception and stereoscopic vision driving around a quarry.

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 09.28.2009 at 10:00 am 1 Comment

Any Mars rover worth its wheels must prove itself capable of navigating safely on Earth, never mind millions of miles away on the red planet. British scientists took a prototype of Europe's ExoMars rover out for a spin around a quarry in Southern England last week.

The rover design by EADS Astrium has two front-mounted navigation cameras and four cameras at each corner to avoid close scrapes. A pair of scientific cameras also provides stereoscopic vision and depth perception, and lends the rover a bit of a WALL-E or Short Circuit appearance. Check out the robot's wanderings below:

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READ MORE ABOUT > esa, europe, exomars, Mars, robotic, robots, rover, space, Video

Rover to Retrace Apollo's Footsteps

Sun-powered robot will examine lunar junk after four decades

By Sally Younger Posted 07.23.2009 at 2:59 pm 0 Comments

Boiling noons and cryogenic nights will prove two of the hells inflicted upon a sun-fueled rover when it retraces Neil Armstrong’s first steps across the moon in 2011, beaming home high-definition footage along the way.

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READ MORE ABOUT > Astrobotic Technology, lunar exploration, robots, rover, solar power