Lionel Posted February 11, 2004 #1 Share Posted February 11, 2004 The US space agency's robotic Mars explorer Spirit has broken a record for the distance travelled by a robot rover in one day on the Martian surface. Spirit travelled nearly 21 metres (70 feet) across the rock-strewn surface of Gusev Crater, where it is looking for past or present signs of liquid water. Scientists said Spirit's twin rover Opportunity had experienced slips during 50% of its drive on Tuesday. This is thought to be due to loose soil at its Meridiani Planum landing site. Spirit's drive was more than three times the longest distance covered in one day by Nasa's Sojourner rover, which landed on Mars in 1997. Spirit drove "blind" for about half the distance, following a planned route to a stopping point. For the second half of the trip, it drove to a second stopping point, executed a turn and then rolled onward before stopping. Spirit creates a map of the terrain in front of it, dividing it into green, yellow and red areas based on how easy it perceives that terrain is to traverse. The rover can navigate over yellow and green coloured terrain, but not red. View: Full Article | Source: BBC News Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skela Posted February 11, 2004 #2 Share Posted February 11, 2004 Does the fact that the rover is slipping have to be because of loose soil? Can it be ice perhaps, coating the soil just a bit ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geeohn Posted February 12, 2004 #3 Share Posted February 12, 2004 I hope it goes farer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skela Posted February 12, 2004 #4 Share Posted February 12, 2004 Same here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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