Earth’s conquest exploration of Mars has been in the news a lot lately, with a veritable mass of ideas being floated for consideration. US soldiers want to go and stay, George Bush doesn’t want us going at all, and a lot just seem to want to see if there is any water.
The next idea, which has been around for a little while now, is that of an army of inflatable and spherical robots traversing the red planet.
Engineers from Ǻngström Aerospace in Uppsala, Sweden, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena have fleshed out an idea originally conceived by Fredrik Bruhn of Uppsala. "Our inflatable rovers are lightweight, travel great distances, use very low energy and will be fairly cheap," says Bruhn. "One battery charge will let such a rover travel around 100 kilometers."
The inflatable robot idea has received funding from the Swedish National Space Board, and has produced a prototype that measures in at just 30 centimeters in diameter, and, most importantly, at just half the volume a wheeled rover with the same sensing instrumentation would require.
Such a technology would allow the descendants of NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers the ability to carry their own mini-rovers, and deploy them wherever necessary.
Bruhn is confident in his teams work, and in the feasibility of the robot, based on the success of a larger, though not inflatable, version of their robot that is already up and running. Made by Rotundus of Stockholm, and named Groundbot, it is already being tested for use in security and surveillance applications by a device division of SAAB.
"It can happily patrol large areas like harbours, travelling on snow, sand or gravel – it doesn't matter what the surface is," Bruhn told New Scientist. "As a sphere, only a single point ever touches the ground, so the friction is close to zero. It's the most energy-efficient geometry for roving on unpredictable surfaces."
The inflatable version would be made of an inflatable skin made of polyaryletheretherketone, an extra-strong plastic that has commonly been used in space flight applications, and able to withstand high temperatures. Within the shell, a hollow metal axle would stretch from one side to the other, supporting the rover’s main body on a pendulum. The pendulum would subsequently work as the sphere’s driving mechanism, by tilting the mass forward or backwards, or side to side.
Solar panels, ultra thin, on the hexagonal panels that add up to create the soccer-ball-like design would provide the rover’s power. Ultrasonic cleaners on the inside of the shell would vibrate the shell, shaking off any dust that the rover may acquire in its travels.
"They would make a very good complement to a wheel-based robot, travelling at up to 30 kilometres per hour on sand and loose, gravelly solid surfaces – and giving scientists many more chances to see where the best science can be done," says Bruhn.
Joshua Hill, a Geek’s-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm.
