European Space Agency may send rover and snake robot to Mars

Yes, now various teams of scientists in Europe, China and the USA are developing various methods of researching other planets, in particular, Mars. As you know, the greatest success in recent years has been achieved by NASA, but ESA, the European Space Agency, does not want to lag behind. And now this organization is developing a project for pair research of Mars, when the robot snake will help the robot rover.

Of course, there can be a lot of options for such a combination. But so far, experts have identified the most likely project implementation plan. This is a robot snake, which is also a manipulator of the rover, and can disconnect / join at the right moments. After a rather long period of discussion of the options for energy supply of the “snake”, the option of connecting partners with a cable was adopted.

Yes, no wireless, no induction charging. The cable will connect the robot snake and the rover. The cable will transmit commands from the rover - “snake”. It is clear that at first the operator from Earth gives the command to the rover, and that, playing the role of a connecting link (I would hope, not a “damaged phone”) will lead the robot.



Well, finally, it's worth talking about why a snake is on Mars. The fact is that the patency of such a robot is almost perfect. "Snake" will be able to get into the most inaccessible places for the rover, having studied all the interesting details. After that, the cable will be automatically removed, and the “snake” will again become a rover manipulator. Well, or just take some place on the body of the rover, so as not to interfere with that ride on the surface of the Red Planet.

It is worth noting that the "snake" may also be a salvation for the rover. For example, if he gets stuck in the sand, as happened with Spirit, the “snake” will wrap around a nearby stone (of course, if there is one) and the rover will pull in the cable, thus pulling itself out of the sand trap.

In general, the project is quite interesting, and it should be noted separately that it is being developed by the Norwegians (SINTEF).

Via sintef