News tagged with mars rovers

Study shows how to keep a Mars tumbleweed rover moving on rocky terrain

New research from North Carolina State University shows that a wind-driven "tumbleweed" Mars rover would be capable of moving across rocky Martian terrain – findings that could also help the National ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (7) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Dark shadows on Mars: Scene from durable NASA rover

(Phys.org) -- Like a tourist waiting for just the right lighting to snap a favorite shot during a stay at the Grand Canyon, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has used a low sun angle for a memorable ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Opportunity's Traverse map from sol 2951

(Phys.org) -- After spending 19 weeks working in one place while solar power was too low for driving during the Martian winter, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is on the move again. The winter worksite ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Mojave Desert tests prepare for NASA Mars Roving

(Phys.org) -- Team members of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission took a test rover to Dumont Dunes in California's Mojave Desert this week to improve knowledge of the best way to operate a similar rover, ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Opportunity rover rolling again after fifth Mars winter

(Phys.org) -- With its daily supply of solar energy increasing, NASA's durable Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has driven off the sunward-tilted outcrop, called Greeley Haven, where it worked during its ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 09, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Take a peek inside Curiosity's shell

Take a look around Curiosity’s cozy cabin! Ok, there’s really not much to see (she didn’t get a window seat) but when the image above was taken by the rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 08, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Mars Rover starts its 9th year

Eight years after landing on Mars for what was planned as a three-month mission, NASA's enduring Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is working on what essentially became a new mission five months ago.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 03, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 5 | with audio podcast

Space Image: Dusty Mars rover's self portrait

(PhysOrg.com) -- This self portrait from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows dust accumulation on the rover's solar panels as the mission approached its fifth Martian winter. The dust reduces the ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Incredible digital re-creations of the Mars rovers

Want to see the Mars Exploration Rovers in incredible, intricate detail – without having to travel to the Red Planet to inspect them in person? Design wizard Nick Sotiriadis from Greece has spent five ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 12, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 0

LAMIS -- a green chemistry alternative for laser spectroscopy

At some point this year, after NASA's rover Curiosity has landed on Mars, a laser will fire a beam of infrared light at a rock or soil sample. This will "ablate" or vaporize a microgram-sized piece of the ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Mar 01, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Curiosity, the stunt double

With a pair of bug-eyes swiveling on a stalk nearly 8 feet off the ground, the 6-wheeled, 1800-lb Mars rover Curiosity doesn’t look much like a human being.  Yet, right now, the mini-Cooper-sized ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Feb 24, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Opportunity phones home dusty self-portraits and ground breaking science

Opportunity, the Princess of Martian Robots, phoned home dusty new self portraits – above and below – of her beautiful bod basking in the utterly frigid sunshine during her 5th winter on the Red ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Feb 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 1

New views show old NASA Mars landers

(PhysOrg.com) -- The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded a scene on Jan. 29, 2012, that includes the first color image from orbit showing ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (11) | comments 10 | with audio podcast

Mars-bound NASA rover carries coin for camera checkup

(PhysOrg.com) -- The camera at the end of the robotic arm on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has its own calibration target, a smartphone-size plaque that looks like an eye chart supplemented with color chips ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (7) | comments 10 | with audio podcast

Durable NASA rover beginning ninth year of Mars work

(PhysOrg.com) -- Eight years after landing on Mars for what was planned as a three-month mission, NASA's enduring Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity is working on what essentially became a new mission five ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jan 25, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Mars rover

A Mars rover is a spacecraft which propels itself across the surface of Mars after landing.

Rovers have several advantages over stationary landers: they examine more territory, they can be directed to interesting features, they can place themselves in sunny positions to weather winter months and they can advance the knowledge of how to perform very remote robotic vehicle control.

Their advantages over orbiting spacecraft are that they can make observations to a microscopic level and can conduct physical experimentation. Disadvantages of rovers compared to orbiters are the higher chance of failure, due to landing and other risks, and that they are limited to a small area around a landing site which itself is only approximately anticipated.

There have been three successful Mars rovers, all of which were robotically operated. (There have also been two successful non-Martian robotic rovers: in the 1970s the USSR sent two Lunokhod rovers to the Moon.)

For more information about Mars rover, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: nasa , mars , red planet