Model Mars Rover Does A Zombie Walk To Escape A Sand Trap
This rover has moves that could take over a dance floor.
A new video shows a simulator known as the Ground Test Model doing a sort of zombie walk over Martian-like terrain, to test out techniques for a future Mars missions.
“The rover initially has its front two wheels almost completely buried in sand, but easily escapes using its unique wheel-walking mode,” the European Space Agency said in a statement of the testing at Thales Alenia Space facilities in Turin, Italy, noting that the 6-foot drive took about 20 minutes to accomplish.
“The back wheels drag once the front four wheels have gained good traction on firmer terrain. The reason is that the wheel-walking sequence tested here has rather been optimized for climbing steep slopes with loose soils,” ESA added of the sequence.This work will be crucial to keep the Rosalind Franklin rover safe after it lifts off for Mars, and lands on the Red Planet in 2023. NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers are among the machines who got stuck in sand dunes in past missions, and in fact Spirit eventually died in a sand dune because it was unable to move to a spot in the winter to recharge its solar panels.
Both Rosalind Franklin and this replica have something called a “wheel walking locomotion mode” to accomplish the maneuver. ESA says that it allows the rover to temporarily make movements similar to how humans move the legs.
“Wheel-walking combines motions of the deployment actuators (the legs) with the rotation of the wheels to progress without slippage. This motion gives very good traction in soft soils and high slopes, such as dunes,” ESA said.
To be sure, rover controllers will do their best to keep the machine out of trouble in the first place, but in case of the unexpected this system will serve as a valuable backup.
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