this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
56 points (98.3% liked)

Space

8054 readers
704 users here now

Share & discuss informative content on: Astrophysics, Cosmology, Space Exploration, Planetary Science and Astrobiology.

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive.
  2. No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  3. Engage in constructive discussions.
  4. Share relevant content.
  5. Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
  6. Use appropriate language and tone.
  7. Report violations.
  8. Foster a continuous learning environment.

Picture of the Day

The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula

Related Communities

πŸ”­ Science

πŸš€ Engineering

🌌 Art and Photography

Other Cool Links

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
L7ePvmEn
Bitswap
[email protected]
Agamemnon
otter
56
New legged robots designed to explore planets as a team (arstechnica.com)
submitted 11 months ago by very_well_lost to c/space
8 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

While rovers have made incredible discoveries, their wheels can hold them back, and erratic terrain can mean damage. There is no replacing something like Perseverance, but sometimes rovers could use a leg up, and they could get that from a small swarm of four-legged robots.

all 10 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] messem10 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Issue there is how does it handle loose fill material or sand/dust in its joints? That’d wear it down quick or result in it getting into an unrecoverable situation. (Wheeled rovers have a larger contact area and less likely to sink into sand.)

[–] Sanctus 5 points 11 months ago

According to the article they would be supplemental to the rovers, not as a replacement. So I'd imagine they'd be able to retreat into some sort of storage on the rover where they could hopefully be air cleaned automatically.