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VK8PDG > NASA 30.10.01 14:45l 86 Lines 3841 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: NASA BULLDOZER ROVERS COULD GET THE SCOOP ON MARS
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Sent: 011031/0541z @:VK8PDG.PLM.#NT.AUS.OC (Palmerston NT) Z:0830 #:7870
MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
Contact: Carolina Martinez (818) 354-9382
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 29, 2001
NASA BULLDOZER ROVERS COULD GET THE SCOOP ON MARS
Tiny bulldozer rovers may some day dish up the dirt and
pack it in on Mars. The scoop-and-dump design of a prototype
bulldozer rover being developed by NASA engineers mimics that
of a bulldozer and dump truck.
Unlike a life-size bulldozer and dump truck, which can
weigh several thousand pounds, these rovers are lightweight,
intelligent and can work without an operator at the wheel.
Yet they have the same capabilities, relative to their size,
as their heavy-duty counterparts.
Robotics engineers think the basic research on these
bulldozing rovers may support future missions to look for life
or to sustain a human presence.
"If water sources, such as hot springs, layers of ice or
groundwater reservoirs are discovered on Mars, a network of
these rovers could conduct scientific investigations and
excavate the site piece-by-piece, just as humans would on an
archeological dig," said Brian Wilcox, supervisor of the
Robotic Vehicles Group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. "Rovers like these may also play a role in
establishing a space outpost for eventual human occupancy.
They may be used to create buried habitats or utility trenches
and to excavate resources to support life.
"We think a greater amount of terrain can be excavated if
the workload is shared among several smaller vehicles.
Smaller solar powered vehicles have a higher power-to-weight
ratio than bigger vehicles, yet together can perform the same
tasks as a large vehicle," said Wilcox.
Weighing approximately 3.6 kilograms (8 pounds), the
bulldozer rovers have arms with a tiny scoop to dig up and
dump the soil into an overhead bucket. They use their arms to
right themselves if they fall over. Working in groups, they
will create a virtual communications network with a central
control tower, equipped with stereo cameras that will provide
a 360-degree view of the terrain. A reflector will unfurl
from the tower and divert the Sun's energy to the bulldozer
rovers that are down a hole or ditch.
The bulldozer rovers share the same processor and
software as the nanorover originally designed to fly on a
Japanese asteroid mission. Four prototypes are working at
this time. Engineers are working to determine the optimum
size of the rovers for excavation tasks.
"When people hear about the work we do, they sometimes
think we are just talking science fiction," said Wayne
Schober, manager for advanced robotics surface systems at JPL.
"We worked on some of the most advanced robotic vehicle
designs of the mid-1980s, such as those that enabled the two-
armed coordinated robots for the International Space Station,
the Mars Pathfinder Rover and the rovers about to explore
Mars. We are not all fun and games. We mean business."
These researchers are working on the next generation of
air, surface and subsurface vehicles for exploration of the
planets, including Mars, Venus, Jupiter's moon Europa and
Saturn's largest moon Titan. The vehicles include a
tumbleweed ball, which can blow with the wind; blimps; and
all-terrain rovers, which can traverse down steep hills and
gullies.
NASA's Cross Enterprise Technology Development Program
provided funding for this work. The California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA. JPL is the lead
American center for robotic exploration of the solar system.
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