Gizmodo: mars rover

Britain's Mars Rover Tested on Earth

Mark Wilson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:50:00 EDT

Europe plans to launch its own rover to Mars in 2018. Here we see the Britain-built "Bridget" driving around some hole in the ground that sort of looks like Mars.

As you'll hear in this clip, the rover is testing a new imaging system that promises to one-up that of the US-based rovers. Europe's system should send back highly detailed 3D maps of the surface that one scientist compared to Google street view.

These maps will be useful in everything from general topographical research to colonial planning to first-person shooters. [BBC News via DVICE]

Meet Trilobot, the Mars Spirit's Long Lost, Endearingly Stupid Third Cousin

John Herrman — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:40:00 EDT

Just seeing the serious-looking picture above, you'd be forgiven for thinking the solar-powered Trilobot had crawled out of some Caltech basement lab, or shared a desert proving ground with a certain recently-immobilized Martian rover. Nope! It's art. Goofy art.

Designed by Dan Roe as a "kinetic art" project, the Trilobot seems perfectly content to just kinda roll around, climbing over some obstacles and bouncing off the rest. For how simple it is, though, it's surprisingly nimble: it can wiggle through some pretty gnarly rock gardens with its swiveling legs. And as far as things with wheels go, it's kind of adorable. [Engadget]

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Alien Skull Discovered in NASA Mars Photograph, Dr. Bonkers Says

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:37:50 EDT

This NASA image—recently taken by Mars Rover Spirit—shows the 5.9-inch skull of a Martian, with binocular eyes 2 inches apart, 1400 cc cranial capacity, and "most likely a carnivore." At least, according to a loony.

The comment came up in a forum, and argued that the alien creature was obviously a carnivore because of his "narrow pointed small mouth." Other commenters smashed the alien-spotter: "The coronal ridge shows ample structure to support the musculature of antennae, although none are visible in this view."

Obviously—and unfortunately—it's just a rock. A rock or an alien who covered himself in beach sand and fell asleep as the Martian seas evaporated. [Daily Telegraph]

NASA Moving Forward With Its Mars Nuclear Destroyer Lasertank

John Herrman — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:03:09 EDT

Following weeks of doubts about the future of the Mars Science Laboratory, the one-ton, nuclear powered, laser-shooting next generation of the waning Mars Phoenix, Lockheed Martin has shipped the vital "backshell" for the landing module, confirming that building is still under way. They also produced a video detailing the amazing landing procedure for the craft, during which a hovering "skycrane" lowers the rover to the ground before dutifully smashing itself into the surface a safe distance away.

The extensive set of onboard scientific equipment (it's called a laboratory, after all) will allow scientists to more closely analyze soil and rock samples, which can be zapped and disintegrated with the rover's powerful lasers. A note to NASA: fitting your landing craft with terrifying death rays might make your "We Come in Peace" script sound slightly disingenuous. [NASA via The Register]

Future NASA Rover Will Scare Aliens with Rock-crushing Lasers

Louis Ramirez — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 08:30:06 EDT

Good old NASA is giving their Mars Rover a hardcore makeover. The next-gen Rover (the Mars Science Laboratory) is gonna weigh in at 1,800 pounds and pack rock-crushing lasers. As a matter of fact, it's gonna pack so much tech it'll have to run on nuclear power rather than solar arrays (like previous Rovers).

So aside from the lasers (which will be able to disintegrate rocks up to 40 feet away) it'll have 3 cameras and an X-ray spectrometer (which is used to determine what elements are around the Rover). It's expected to be shot up to Mars in 2009. Look out, Martians. – Louis Ramirez

NASA's Next Mars Rover is a Laser-equipped Monster [Sci Fi Tech]

Mars Rovers: Three Years Running and Smarter, Too

Charlie White — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 14:41:08 EST

Those two Mars rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, landed on the red planet in January 2004 and are still going strong, twelve times longer than their originally-planned mission of 90 Martian days. Together they've sent more than 160,000 images back to Earth and have driven a combined 10.4 miles.

The two rovers were pretty much chowderheads when they first landed, but now they're quite a bit smarter because of their newly-uploaded software. Now they can be more picky about their choice of snapshots, recognizing that, for example, a rock they're looking at is the same one they saw earlier, but just from a different angle. This keeps the little robots from taking multiple pictures of the same thing.

Perhaps scientists will teach them how to reproduce, and then an entire population of the little droids will be there to meet their earthling overlords if we ever arrive. – Charlie White

Old Rovers Learn New Tricks to Kick Off Year Four [Red Orbit]