Labels: text | electronic device | electronics | camera OCR: The Marsokhod (cont.) ROBOTS When its path is blocked, it automatically MARTIAN ROVERS @ backs up, turns, and starts forward again-a rather laborious ROBOTS IN FILM maneuver, but one that is virtually impossible to control from Earth, as we have seen earlier, because of the time needed to send data back and forth. Ideally, rovers like the Marsokhod would be equipped with stereoscopic cameras and a computer capable of establishing a relief map of the terrain so they could determine the best path across the Martian surface autonomously. The CNES rover European space researchers are also working on a Mars rover. The French National Center for Space Research (CNES) now has on its drawing boards a complex rover that would weigh 800 kilos and be capable of traveling 1000 kilometers during a two-year mission. The vehicle landing module would serve as a ground station, from which the rover would travel across the Martian surface, conducting The Aerobot radar soundings to establish geophysical profiles of the Martian subsoil. Equipped with a portable laboratory, the rover could also carry out chemical and mineralogical analyses. The rover's artificial intelligence would enable it to travel independently, as well as select and analyze samples appropriately. CNES researchers plan to use the rover to simulate a manned Mars mission to explore the canyons around Kasei Vallis. MARS BETAT
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