University of Arizona engineers have developed a system that allows autonomous vehicles to scout out underground habitats for astronauts. House hunting on Mars could soon become a thing, and researchers at the University of Arizona are already in the business of scouting real estate that future a
College of Engineering have developed technology that would allow a flock of robots to explore subsurface environments on other worlds.
Continuously monitoring their environment and maintaining awareness of where they are in space, the rovers proceed on their own, connected to each other via a wireless data connection, deploying communication nodes along the way. Once a rover senses the signal is fading but still within range, it drops a communication node, regardless of how much distance has actually passed since it placed the last node.
One of the experimental rovers used by Fink’s team to test hardware and software related to autonomous exploration. This prototype is outfitted with cameras and other sensors for navigation. Credit: Wolfgang Fink/University of Arizonaparadigm devised by Fink and colleagues in the early 2000s. This idea envisions a team of robots operating at different command levels – for example, an orbiter controlling a blimp, which in turn controls one or more landers or rovers on the ground.
“They can switch between each other and compensate for dead spots and signal blackouts,” added Mark Tarbell, paper co-author and senior research scientist in Fink’s laboratory. “If some of them die, there still is connectivity through the remaining nodes, so the mother rover never loses connection to the farthest node in the network.”The robust network of communication nodes ensures all the data collected by the robotic explorers make it back to the mother rover on the surface.
The proposed concept “holds magic,” according to Victor Baker, a UArizona Regents Professor of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, Geosciences and Planetary Sciences. “The most amazing discoveries in science come about when advances in technology provide both first-time access to a thing or place and the means of communicating what is thereby discovered to creative minds that are seeking understanding,” Baker said.
Norge Siste Nytt, Norge Overskrifter
Similar News:Du kan også lese nyheter som ligner på denne som vi har samlet inn fra andre nyhetskilder.
This robotic 'shark' gobbles up 21,000 waste bottles a day from riversThere's a new shark in the water but it doesn't gobble up fish. The WasteShark cleans up trash from rivers.
Les mer »
Firefly Aerospace selected by NASA for Robotic Delivery to Far Side of MoonTo carry multiple payloads to the far side of the Moon including a satellite to orbit that area, NASA has selected Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas. The commercial lander will deliver two agency payloads, as well as a communication and data relay satellite for lunar orbit, which is an ESA (Eur
Les mer »
Stunning Discovery: Equatorial Relict Glacier Uncovered on MarsThe preservation of water ice at shallow depths and low latitudes on Mars would have significant implications for both scientific research and human exploration. During the 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference that took place in The Woodlands, Texas, scientists announced a groundbreaking dis
Les mer »
How Europe's ExoMars rover will get to Mars without Russia | Digital TrendsExoMars was supposed to be a joint Europe-Russia mission. But the rover will now be sent to Mars using a European lander instead.
Les mer »
Refereeing controversy mars Union’s collapse in 3-2 loss at CF MontréalMontreal's tying goal was initially called back on a video review for offside, then restored after a second video review.
Les mer »
NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter Sees A Beautiful Sunset on MarsSunsets provide some of the most beautiful natural imagery anywhere on Earth. People flock from all over to see sunsets at specific places at specific times, such as when they perfectly align down a street in Manhattan. But sunsets on other planets wouldn’t be nearly as spectacular. You wouldn’t even be able to see it … Continue reading 'NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Sees A Beautiful Sunset on Mars'
Les mer »