Thursday, July 20, 2006

Team envisions exploring Mars with mini probes

Thousands of probes, powered by fuel cells, could cover a vast area now beyond the reach of today's rovers, including exploring remote and rocky terrain that large rovers cannot navigate.

"They would start to hop, bounce and roll and distribute themselves across the surface of the planet, exploring as they go, taking scientific data samples," said Steven Dubowsky, the MIT professor of mechanical engineering who is leading the research team.

(Via Universe Today.)


Very cool . . . but why don't we just go there already?

1 comment:

Mac said...

I share your concern. So do a lot of others. But JPL doesn't care.