REAL LIFE NEWS: A HOPPER FOR MARS
by Hazed
A team in the UK is developing a new kind of vehicle for exploring Mars – a hopper that bounds across the terrain instead of trundling on wheels.
Wheeled rovers are prone to getting stuck if they encounter boulder fields, steep slopes or sand traps, so a vehicle that could just jump over obstacles would be much more flexible.
The research group, from Leicester University and the Astrium space company, has come up with a design that uses compressed and liquefied carbon dioxide extracted from the Martian atmosphere. It would be heated up and then would expand explosively through a nozzle, providing the motive power needed to make the hopper jump. Initial calculations suggest that a craft weighting a tonne would be able to jump a distance of about 900 metres. You can read the technical details at the source link below.
The latest phase of research has been funded by the European Space Agency. Of course, since the ESA has no current plans for a mission to Mars, it’s all theoretical right now, but it’s still and interesting idea.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24213830
