• UK
  • World
    • USA
  • Entertainment
    • Celeb
    • Showbiz
    • Magazine
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Gaming
  • Tech
  • Science
    • Education
  • Insurance
  • Business
  • Auto
  • ToS/Contact
    • ToS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
NewsExplored
  • UK
  • World
    • USA
  • Entertainment
    • Celeb
    • Showbiz
    • Magazine
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Gaming
  • Tech
  • Science
    • Education
  • Insurance
  • Business
  • Auto
  • ToS/Contact
    • ToS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • LinkedIn

  • Tumblr

  • RSS

Science

How do you learn to drive on Mars?

How do you learn to drive on Mars?
Newsexplored
10th May 2019
ShareTweet
SubscribeRedditGoogleWhatsappStumbleuponPinterestDiggLinkedinTumblrTelegram
Views:
4

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionEngineers test the rover design’s ability to cope with large obstacles in its path

Time is of the essence. It’s now little more than a year until the Rosalind Franklin rover is sent to Mars.

Engineers across Europe and Russia are busy assembling this scientific vehicle. and the hardware that will both carry it to the Red Planet and put it down safely on the surface.

In parallel to all this are the ongoing rehearsals.

These needed to ensure controllers can easily and efficiently operate the robot from back here on Earth.

The videos on this page show the latest locomotion verification tests that have been conducted at the RUAG company in Switzerland.

  • Nasa lander ‘detects first Marsquake’
  • Mars rover named after Rosalind Franklin
Image copyright ESA
Image caption Artwork: The rover will travel to Mars inside a capsule attached to a German cruise vehicle

How will the rover stand up on its landing platform and roll down the ramps that take it on to the dusty, rocky terrain of Mars?

How will it negotiate any boulders at the targeted equatorial touchdown location of Oxia Planum?

And how will Rosalind Franklin cope with steep slopes?

data-ad-format="auto">

These questions have to be answered now, before the rover’s rocket blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in July/August next year.

The robot is a joint project of the European and Russian space agencies. It will roam an ancient terrain, looking for evidence of past – perhaps even present – life.

Key to this search will be a drill that will pull up rocky samples from up to 2m below the surface. It’s underground – away from radiation – that we think life might have a chance on Mars.

Media playback is unsupported on your device


Media captionThe test model shows how the Franklin rover will unpack itself after landing

Those samples will be delivered to a sophisticated suite of instruments that live inside a sterile box known as the Analytical Laboratory Drawer.

The ALD has just gone through its own test programme in Turin, Italy, and is now sitting in a cleanroom at Airbus in Stevenage, UK, waiting to be bolted on to Rosalind Franklin. Integration of the ALD will likely take place next week.

Engineers at Stevenage have a deadline of July/August to assemble all the robot’s components and get the finished vehicle out the door.

Significant outstanding items sill to be attached include the bogey system (the locomotion chassis and wheels) and the British camera system (PanCam) that will survey Oxia Planum. This equipment will sit atop a mast.

Image copyright TAS
Image caption The Analytical Laboratory Drawer contains three chemistry experiments to test for life on Mars

From southern England, the completed rover will travel to southwest France, to Toulouse, where it will be “shaked and baked” at another of Airbus’s facilities. This “environmental testing” will demonstrate the robot can handle the vibrational and temperature extremes it will experience on the flight to Mars.

From Toulouse, Rosalind Franklin will travel across France to Cannes. It’s on the Côte d’Azur that the Franco-Italian aerospace company Thales Alenia Space will do the all-important final fit-check, bringing together the rover, its Russian “Kazachok” landing system (built by NPO Lavochkin), and its German cruise vehicle (from OHB-System) which will manage the journey from Earth to Mars.

Assuming all that goes off without a hitch, everything heads to Baikonur and launch preparations.

Fourteen months really is no time at all.

The rover’s name: Who was Rosalind Franklin?

Image copyright Getty Images/ESA
Image caption The Rosalind Franklin rover is joint project of Europe and Russia

In 1952, Rosalind Franklin was at King’s College London (KCL) investigating the atomic arrangement of DNA, using her skills as an X-ray crystallographer to create images for analysis.

One of her team’s pictures, known as Photo 51, provided the essential insights for Crick and Watson to build the first three-dimensional model of the two-stranded macromolecule.

It was one of the supreme achievements of 20th Century science, enabling researchers to finally understand how DNA stored, copied and transmitted the genetic “code of life”.

Crick, Watson, and KCL colleague Maurice Wilkins received the 1962 Nobel Prize for the breakthrough.

Franklin’s untimely death meant she could not be considered for the award (Nobels are not awarded posthumously). However, many argue that her contribution has never really been given the attention it deserves, and has even been underplayed.

  • BBC – In Our Time: Melvyn Bragg recalls the life of Rosalind Franklin

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionThe rover will have to roll down a ramp from its landing platform

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Related

Related Itemsdrivelearn
Science
10th May 2019
Newsexplored @newsexploredweb

Related Itemsdrivelearn

More in Science

  • Read More
    Climate change: Anger as protesters barred from UN talks

    Views:4 Image copyright Simon Chambers Image caption Protestors were forced outside by UN security staff Environmentalists and...

    Newsexplored 10th May 2019
  • Read More
    Climate change: Methane pulse detected from South Sudan wetlands

    Views:4 Image copyright Copernicus Data 2019/ESA/Sentinel-2 Image caption The Sudd: Microbes in saturated soils will produce methane...

    Newsexplored 10th May 2019
  • Read More
    General election 2019: Do EU state aid rules stop school bus services?

    Views:4 Image copyright Getty Images The claim: EU state aid rules cause “real difficulties” for the operation...

    Newsexplored 10th May 2019
  • Read More
    Greta Thunberg accuses world leaders of ‘creative PR’ at climate summit

    Views:4 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionGreta Thunberg criticised CEOs and politicians for their...

    Newsexplored 10th May 2019
  • Read More
    Parent school donations ‘exacerbating inequality’

    Views:4 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Some schools say they need donations for “necessities”, such as...

    Newsexplored 10th May 2019
  • Read More
    Climate change: Major emitters accused of blocking progress at UN talks

    Views:4 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Climate protesters on the streets of Madrid during COP25 Delegates...

    Newsexplored 10th May 2019
  • Read More
    Laurent Simons: Belgian child prodigy drops out of university

    Views:4 Image copyright Reuters Image caption The university told Laurent Simons’ parents that he wouldn’t be able...

    Newsexplored 10th May 2019
  • Read More
    Climate change: Greenland ice melt ‘is accelerating’

    Views:4 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionGreenland melting ‘faster than expected’ Greenland is losing...

    Newsexplored 10th May 2019
  • Read More
    Seafloor scar of Bikini A-bomb test still visible

    Views:4 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionDr Art Trembanis: “The crater speaks to just...

    Newsexplored 10th May 2019
  • Read More
    Climate change: Amazon oil boom under fire at UN talks

    Views:4 Image copyright Nathan Lemphers Image caption Indigenous leaders at the COP asking for a moratorium on...

    Newsexplored 10th May 2019
  • Read More
    Refugees ‘at increased’ risk from extreme weather

    Views:4 Image copyright IDMC Image caption Temporary camps have been hit by extreme weather in recent years...

    Newsexplored 10th May 2019
  • Read More
    Grandmother killer whales boost survival of calves

    Views:4 Image copyright Kenneth Balcomb, Center for Whale Research Image caption The impact on survival rates was...

    Newsexplored 10th May 2019
Scroll for more
Tap
data-ad-format="auto">
NewsExplored

NewsExplored - Making sure all the latest news is explored?

Contact us for help

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • Comments

  • General election 2019: SNP to take legal action over ITV election debate
    UK13th November 2019
  • General election 2019: Kate Griffiths selected as Tory candidate
    UK13th November 2019
  • London Bridge attack: Victim Jack Merritt had ‘lust for life’
    UK30th November 2019
  • The art of hunting down stolen treasures
    Entertainment16th November 2019
  • Harvey Weinstein ‘reaches tentative $25m deal with accusers’
    USA12th December 2019
  • Joe Biden: Democratic presidential frontrunner denies one-term pledge
    USA12th December 2019
  • Mississippi mum and dad graduate on same day just before son
    USA11th December 2019
  • Boeing: US regulator admits ‘mistake’ over aircraft crashes
    USA11th December 2019
  • Les Rehrer says:

    Hello Its me :P and thanks for this post

  • optumrx login says:

    Thank For News.

  • Kent Laatsch says:

    Please let me know if you're looking for a writer…

  • Bob says:

    RT News was where I learned that Erdogan controlled isis.…

Copyright © 2018 Top News Theme. Theme by MVP Themes, powered by Wordpress.

Israel probes Golan Heights mass vulture poisoning
Apollo Moon landing: The 13 minutes that defined a century
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok