Flawed Tests on Earth May Explain Why NASA’s Rovers Get Stuck on Mars

In the spring of 2019, the Six-Wheel Spirit Rover was driving back to the back of a disabled front wheel when Sandy Martian was stuck on the surface. Despite spending a few months, the robot tried to excavate, NASA could not release the soul. Now, engineers at the University of Wisconsin – Madison can find a way to prepare NASA robots better for the outgoing environment.

A Paper Published Field Robotics Journal, Engineers used computer simulations using computer simulations to unveil the missing material in the way it examines its roars on earth. Rove prototypes are being tested on earth instead of accounting for gravity effects, engineers behind recent research have suggested that NASA Bali itself ignored the gravity of gravity.

Mars on Mars is significantly weaker than the earth. In order to account for the difference between gravity between Mars and Earth, NASA engineers examine a lightweight prototype of Martian Rovers, which is the sixth of the masses sent on the red planet. Recent simulations, however, have revealed that the gravity of the earth is stronger than the moon or the moon, pulling the sand on the sand with the same. As a result, the sand of the earth is much rigid and is less likely to move under the wheels of the Rover, when it becomes fluffy on the moon.

UW – Madison’s Mechanical Engineering Department Professor Dan Negot and a paper lead author Dan Negot said, “We should not only consider gravitational pull on Rover, but also the impact of gravity on sand to get a better picture of the rover on the moon.” StatementThe

The back of the study was NASA Viper, or Polar Exploration Rover Investigator of the Route of the Puzzle when the riot stumbled on the missing piece, which was This year means to be launched on the moon Before its mission is canceled. While imitating the viper mission, engineers noticed the difference between the Earth -based examination of Rover prototype and the physics -based simulations based on the four -wheeler robots on the moon.

New inquiries indicate that in the outgoing regions like the moon or Mars, the rover is more likely to fight their wheels to be stuck in low—embodied sand. Something like this happened not only to the soul, but also to NASA’s chance to Rover, which has spent Stuck in the sand in 2005And the curiosity, which has received Has been submerged in soft terrain in 2014The Considering how the sand behaves under the light gravitational pull of other worlds, NASA can better prepare its robots better for a more rigid terrain.