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Mars Rover Concept Vehicle

NASA is aiming to have humans on Mars in the next few decades, fifty-fifty if that comes with more than risk than nosotros originally thought. Just getting there is just the kickoff claiming. Humans have to be able to survive and explore the red planet, and the agency just unveiled a vehicle that could assist with the latter. The new vi-wheeled rover looks like it just rolled out of a sci-fi movie.

The is a concept vehicle, significant this design won't even land on Mars. Information technology was designed by US based Parker Brothers Concepts, based on specifications provided by NASA. The vehicle was unveiled this week at Nasa'south Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex. It was commissioned as role of an educational program to get the public excited almost space exploration.

The rover is an imposing vehicle at well-nigh 28 feet (eight.5 meters) long and 13 anxiety (4 meters) wide. It uses a bank of solar panels to provide power to its 50-inch wheels. The designers say it could theoretically reach speeds as high equally seventy mph, but on Mars' rocky terrain it would likely be limited to 15 mph or less. The frame is fabricated entirely of aluminum and carbon fiber, which helps cut down on the weight. All the same, this is a huge vehicle that would take up a ton of cargo space on a Mars mission even if the weight was negligible.

This isn't simply a rover, though. It was designer to dissever into two parts, with the front retaining two of the vi wheels. The back section contains a full laboratory, which can remain stationary as the front section continues to scout around. It's a great blueprint, only there'due south no guarantee NASA will adopt information technology for its real Mars rovers.

rover 2

With the lab section discrete.

The agency says it does plan to contain some elements of the concept's design into the real thing at some signal. If non the detachable lab, then maybe the ducted wheels, which were designed to let Martian dust pass through. It's likely that any futurity Mars mission will rely on a much more than modest rover for getting around the surface. Fifty-fifty if ane of these massive rovers could be transported, how many spare parts could you bring forth?

NASA's current timeline calls for humans to country on Mars in the 2030s, and then it has some fourth dimension to figure out an official rover design. However, if SpaceX lives upwards to the hype and makes it to Mars offset, it'll demand a rover design of its own much sooner.