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Shutterbugs Shoot 'Scarecrow'
Hyper-capable Rover Has Appetite For Large Boulders
Shutterbugs Shoot 'Scarecrow'
On June 19, 2007, media visited JPL’s newly expanded outdoor Mars Yard where rovers train for future planetary missions. Visitors were treated to a test drive of the “Scarecrow” rover. Scarecrow might still be missing its computer “brains,” but it certainly showed off its monster appetite for large boulders, making easy work of traversing them. In early 2008, assembly of this hefty, hyper-capable rover will begin.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The "Scarecrow Rover" is impressive indeed.
Large long-range rovers are definitely needed in the future for exploring Mars.
Even larger rovers could be used for transporting groups of people or supplies across the Martian surface.
Ron Carlson
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[color=darkred]Let's go to Mars and far beyond - triple NASA's budget ![/color] [url=irc://freenode#space] #space channel !! [/url] [url=http://www.youtube.com/user/c1cl0ps] - videos !!![/url]
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Here are some images of the opening of JPL's new MarsYard.
Enjoy!
New MarsYard Unveiled
http://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/news/n … ?NewsID=70
NEWS
New MarsYard Unveiled
06/26/2007
Ribbon cutting:
Samad Hayati, Manager of Mars Technology Program, (left),
Gene Tattini, JPL Deputy Director (center),
Firouz Naderi, JPL Associate Director (right).
A new MarsYard to test the mobility and autonomy of future Mars rovers was unveiled at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on June 19, 2007. This new facility is approximately 21,000 square feet, six times larger than the previous MarsYard, and includes a new building that will be used to house rover operations.
This facility will be used by Robotics personnel funded by the Mars Technology Program to test new capabilities developed under the program. The facility will also be used by Robotics personnel working on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) project, to test and validate flight rover capabilities.
MSL's prototype rover, called Scarecrow, was unveiled in this ribbon-cutting ceremony. Measuring over 2 meters in length and width, it is capable of carrying large science payloads and traversing over much rougher terrain than the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER).
Two new research rovers, Athena and Pluto, were also shown in operation during the event. They were joined by a third research rover and older sibling, FIDO. All are smaller than Scarecrow and similar in size to MER.
More Images:
JPL's new MarsYard Enlarge +
Scarecrow demonstrates its mobility capabilities Enlarge +
Ron Carlson
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Here are images of the Athena, Pluto and FIDO rovers.
The Athena Rover before upgrades, in the JPL Marsyard.
The Pluto Rover
The FIDO rover
Ron Carlson
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I am going to look at this in a different way. The MarsYard is an analog site for rover design but going one step further this could be a theme park for tourist to view what a rover does when it gets to its destination.
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