The newest Mars rover from NASA is supposed to be launched in 2020, so the space agency engineers are testing ist capabilities. For example, they guided it to its stowed configuration from its deployed, and we can see all that in a time-lapse video in which the rover’s arm that measures 7 feet or 2.1 meters and weighs 88 lbs. or 40 kg moved a little bit.
How does the Mars 2020 rover testing take place?
This piece of equipment cost NASA US$2.5 billion so the rover could collect samples from Mars and bring them to our planet so scientists could investigate them. With that being said, it is impressive to see how a robotic arm bends and lifts things off the ground. The arm must be in its best shape and work adequately to experts’ expectations so it could complete its mission and help scientists get to know the Red Planet.
The Curiosity rover also had a robotic hand which got improved into the Mars 2020 rover. In the shoulder azimuth, elbow, shoulder elevation, turret joints, and wrist it has rotary actuator motors which offer it five degrees of freedom.
What is inside Mars 2020 rover?
Its hand is similar to a turret one, and it has high-definition cameras installed. In addition to that, it is also equipped with the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), and Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) science instrument.
The Martian environment has been protecting the samples the rover will extract for millennia do it will need to bore into them. To do so, Mars 2020 rover features a coring mechanism and a percussive drill, which is a vital part of the hand. Some of the samples will be sent on Earth while the rover itself will analyze some.
