Tag: Robot

A Panorama of Mars that feels Earth-like

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Occasionally it’s strange to see photos from the Curiosity Rover on Mars.  Some of them feel distinctly like home.  I can almost imagine a person walking by on the soft sand, through the pathway of rocks, and over the horizon, like a traveller navigating the desert.  The latest panorama of Mars gives me that feeling in spades. And yet, this rusty world has too thin an atmosphere to allow a human to breathe.  It has no water to drink, and intense radiation from the Sun that prevents life from blanketing its surface.  It is human, and yet alien.  No homo...

Curiosity Rover Short Circuit and the Investigation

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I love to discuss Mars rovers.  The thought of robots roaming around the empty red desert, doing science in pure form, unmasking the surprising history of our red neighbour, it’s exciting and it’s the frontier of discovery.  The limits of science and engineering are pushed as we send complex machines to travel further than any human in history.  But with such a marvellous feat, issues can arise, and when they do, the nearest mechanic is 55 Million Km away. On February 27th, during the transfer of a sample of dust from the rover’s drill to its instruments, the rover suffered...