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PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
Contact: Jim Doyle - JPL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 24, 1991
Scientists and engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, investigating low cost approaches to exploring Mars,
tested a small robotic vehicle in rough terrain that is nearly
identical to the two Viking landing sites on Mars.
The successful test of Rocky III, a mini-rover, this month
in the Avawatz Mountains south of Death Valley demonstrated one
of several proposed approaches to future Mars exploration.
Mini-rovers and the even smaller micro-rovers provide NASA
planners with a new class of low-cost planetary exploration
options, said Roger Bedard, manager of Rover Technologies at JPL.
The small rovers will carry cameras for close-up looks at
the surface and to scan the horizon; they will carry micro-
machined sensors to test the atmosphere and soil, spectrometers
to gather geologic information and seismometers to capture data
on crustal motion.
Micro-rovers are defined as robotic vehicles under 5
kilograms in weight (11 pounds). Mini-rovers are larger, up to
about 25 kilograms, (52.5 pounds), the weight of Rocky III.
Dr. Matthew Golombek, principal science advisor on the
project, said the terrain used in the test has the rock size and
distribution of the Viking 2 site on Mars, large boulders strewnacross a graveled surface.
Rocky III successfully traversed the rough terrain in two
tests, he said. It also was successful in traversing a lava field
in the Mojave Desert.
"It was at least a starting point," Golombek said. "We are
certain there are basalt (lava) flows on Mars. We are testing
this rover for an unmanned sample-return mission."
Don Bickler, an engineer and one of the designers of the
rover, said the group wanted also to "test the rover's
configuration, the suspension geometry, the ratios of levers and
the wheel diameters. We wanted to see if it would confirm the
tests we made in the laboratory, to see if in the natural
environment this thing would perform as the lab tests said it
would. And it did."
The next generation of micro- and mini-rovers, now being
designed, will include microsensors to help the machine measure
some qualities of its environment.
Because of their small size and low weight, micro- and mini-
rovers would be relatively inexpensive to launch to the moon or
Mars, Bedard said.
"A new era of space exploration is made possible by advances
in miniaturization technology and in distributed communications,"
said Dr. Giulio Varsi, manager of JPL's Space Automation and
Robotics Program. "I believe these advances will make possible
less expensive missions and broader participation of people."
JPL developed and tested the micro-and mini-rovers for
NASA's Office of Aeronautics, Exploration and Technology.
#####
#1391
9/18/91jjd
Video cassettes (3.5 minutes) of the micro-and mini-rovers
Tooth and Rocky are available to news media through the Public
Information Office at JPL. A photo, 8 x 10, color or black-and-
white, also is available.