Science

NASA robots make dry run in Arctic Circle for Moon, Mars missions

by William Atkins

Tuesday, 24 July 2007

The NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group (IRG) developed the K10 robots called “Black” and “Red” to roam around an impact crater at the Arctic Circle to simulate conditions at Shackleton Crater near the Moon’s south pole.

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The Haughton Crater at Devon Island, in Canada, is similar to Shackleton on the Moon, both being about 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) in diameter. Haughton is also isolated and very cold in climatic conditions, just like environmental conditions on the Moon and Mars. The researchers will concentrate in an area about two miles (three kilometers) out from a location named Drill Hill.

IRG team members, headquartered at NASA’s Ames Research Center near Mountain View, California, along with ground controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, will supervise the robotic test from July 10 to August 3, 2007. The K10 robots contain instruments to map the surface and subsurface features of Haughton Crater. They will be able to map surface features up to 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) away and sub-surface features as deep as 16.4 feet (5 meters) below.

The four-wheeled K10 robots include such instruments as cameras, laser scanners, solar detectors, and a device based on the Global Positioning System (GPS). It carries a payload with a maximum capacity of 110 pounds (50 kilograms), while itself weighing about 165 pounds (75 kilograms), in Earth-weight. All of the instruments and software will be tested during this dry run on the Earth. It will also test the ability of ground controllers to properly control the activities of the roving probes.

Such activity will be beneficial when astronauts first begin to establish outposts on the Moon and Mars. NASA hopes to reduce the number of manned excursions on the Moon and Mars, replacing many of them with robotic missions for safety, efficiency, and convenience. Along with orbiting satellites, these ground-controlled rovers will make tens of thousands of measurements to survey surrounding areas of future outposts. Such activities will reduce the costs of exploratory missions and give humans extra time to do more important tasks.

More information about the mission is found at: http://ti.arc.nasa.gov/news/story.php?id=422.

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