EUROPE: When you think about maneuvering on other planets you might only have an image of hefty and very slow jumps that make it hard to travel any reasonable distance in a short amount of time.
Mars rovers, traditionally, roll around on wheels, very low to the surface but they are also very vulnerable to any natural hazards.
But NASA has revealed a new rover craft, a new robot, which has been specifically designed to deal with the intolerable terrain of small bodies like comets and asteroids. This project has been named “Hedgehog.”
“Hedgehog is a different kind of robot that would hop and tumble on the surface instead of rolling on wheels. It is shaped like a cube and can operate no matter which side it lands on,” explains NASA JPL Hedgehog team leader Issa Nesnas.
Basically, this robot is a cube with spikes in each of the corners which moves by spinning and braking with internal fly wheels. The spikes are actually only necessary for protecting the robot’s body from the unforgiving terrain and, perhaps, to act like substitute feet when it hops and tumbles.
Nesnas continues, “The spikes could also house instruments such as thermal probes to take the temperature of the surface as the robot tumbles.”
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