[meteorite-list] JPL Tests Robots in Arizona Desert

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Sep 13 12:29:11 2006
Message-ID: <200609131629.JAA29213_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_4328276

JPL tests robot explorer
Rover designed to assist astronaut research
By Elise Kleeman
Pasadena Star News
September 13, 2006

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE - Over the past week and a half, NASA researchers
have unleashed a strange group of robots on the Arizona desert, testing
equipment that could one day lead exploration on Mars or the moon.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's contribution to the tests was ATHLETE -
the All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer. The massive,
six-legged robot can roll over smooth terrain or, if the going gets
rough, lock its brakes and walk across the surface.

"This vehicle is conceived and designed to be able to work with
astronauts," said JPL's Brian Wilcox, the project's principal investigator.

For this field test - only the second ever tried with ATHLETE - the
robot carried a cistern-like Pressurized Rover Compartment, designed to
allow astronauts to recharge their space suits with air.

the moon's craters and search for water, Wilcox said, and some of
Tuesday's tests were one step toward that goal.

The JPL team planned to use the robot to drill an anchor into the earth
and lower itself down a 20-degree incline. In future years, they hope to
be able to practice descending the much steeper cliffs of nearby Meteor
Crater, he said.

The experimentation also included the half-humanoid, half-vehicle robot
dubbed Centaur.
Received on Wed 13 Sep 2006 12:29:08 PM PDT