Once the Pathfinder has landed on the surface of Mars, how long does it take instructions from Earth to reach the probe? Whats to stop the Rover from driving off a cliff during the delay?
The ’round-trip’ light time from earth to Mars is approximately 20 minutes at the time Pathfinder lands on the surface of Mars. Processing delays at the rover, at the lander and on Earth add time between a command request and telemetry response. Recognizing that this delay would not allow ground operators at Earth to control the rover in ‘real-time’ on Mars, the designers of the ‘Sojourner’ rover included an on-board hazard detection and avoidance system, a navigation system and fault protection software to protect the rover during traverses. The hazard detection system (a combination of laser-ranging and imaging along with tilt, turn and vehicle configuration sensors) allows the rover to autonomously detect obstacles in its path and turn to avoid them. The navigation system on-board the rover monitors the avoidance maneuver, eventually directing the rover to complete its commanded traverse after the rover has driven past the obstacle. The fault protection software monitors the vehicle
Related Questions
- Once the Pathfinder has landed on the surface of Mars, how long does it take instructions from Earth to reach the probe? Whats to stop the Rover from driving off a cliff during the delay?
- Why haven you made or equiped a rocket on the mars landing rover station that will send back mars earth samples back to earth?
- Are Mars Pathfinder and Mars Exploration Rover different names for the same project or are they different robots?
