Tuesday, Jan. 7, 10:30AM – 12PM Eastern Time: NASA and the Smithsonian team up to facilitate two panel discussions on Mars robotic and human missions. Held in NASM’s Moving Beyond Earth gallery, participants will discuss the MER program and its scientific successes. Participants also will provide updates on the agency’s activities to advance a human mission to Mars in the 2030s.
Why aren’t there more intelligent mobile robots in real world applications? It’s a good question, and one I’m often asked. The answer I give most often is that it’s because we’re still looking for that game changing killer app – the robotics equivalent of the spreadsheet for PCs. Sometimes I place the blame on a not-quite-yet-solved technical deficit – like poor sensing, or sensor fusion, or embedded AI; in other words, our intelligent robots are not yet smart enough. Or I might cite a not-fully-developed-capability, like robots not able to cope with unpredictable (i.e. human) environments, or we can’t yet assure that our robots are safe, and dependable.
Over the past two decades, robotic planetary exploration has generated an incredible wealth of knowledge about our neighbors in the Solar System. We now realize that celestial bodies within our reach can provide resources such as water, minerals, and metals, essential for sustaining and supporting robotic and human exploration of the Solar System. It is only matter of time before “living off the land” exploration enabled by in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) becomes a reality. The Solar System offers almost unlimited resources, but the difficult part is accessing them. Thus, if the cost of mining and processing can be reduced, some of the minerals that are in high demand on Earth could in fact be brought back and sold for commercial gain.
On Monday, I had the opportunity and pleasure to have a discussion with NASA’s Program Executive for Solar System Exploration, Dave Lavery. During the course of the conversation, Dave answered my questions on where robotic exploration stands within NASA, the mission objectives and future of the Mars rovers, his role in robotic education and more.
In today’s episode we speak with Stephen Gorevan from Honeybee Robotics about how he and Chris Chapman started the company and how his childhood dream of working for NASA got them into space robotics. The interview, which was recorded before the landing of Curiosity on Mars, gives us all the details about the equipment they built for the Mars Science Laboratory, including the Sample Manipulation System (SMS) and the Dust Removal Tool (DRT) which will enable the mission to explore and analyze the Martian environment. We also hear about their latest developments in small scale satellites called Cubesats.
Depending on which time zone you’re in, either yesterday evening or early this morning, a rocket-powered sky crane lowered the Curiosity rover gently to the surface of Mars, just in time for Curiosity to send a few low-res images before the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and Odyssey, either of which could relay its signal back to Earth, dropped below the horizon and lost contact, culminating years of planning and months of anxious anticipation. Considering the complex sequence of steps involved, the narrow window of time within which each had to be performed, and the fact that all were performed autonomously by the system in flight or by the rover itself, this successful landing is a major victory for the incorporation of robotic technologies into rocket science. Congratulations to all involved!
In today’s show we bring you to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Open House, just in time to prepare for the landing of the Curiosity Mars Rover in less than 10 days.
Would you like to watch Curiosity pile up sand behind its wheels as it struggles up a slope, this video is about as close as you’re likely to get, at least until Curiosity actually lands on Mars. For more, check out the JPLnews channel on YouTube.
One of the biggest steps in space exploration, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) named Curiosity was launched today with an Atlas V 541 vehicle and it is now on its way to Mars. The Curiosity rover is similar in size and weight to a small car and it will be the largest spacecraft to ever land on Mars with a very elaborate procedure that not only enables it to reach safely the Martian surface but also to land in a relatively tight spot with great geological interest.
March 29, 2021
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