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Marrs

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commonly referred to as the red planet

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is one of our closest neighbors beyond

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the moon it has qualities that make it a

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potentially habitable outpost before all

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Martian exploration ended in November

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1982 a handful of probes had made the

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year-long journey Viking ones orbiter

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completed nearly 1500 picture-taking

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trips around the planet while its Lander

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studied samples and returned to views

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from the surface as a result Mars is

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well mapped but many questions remain so

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researchers are designing systems to

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explore the varied Martian geography in

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anticipation of a return mission on calm

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sunny mornings Jim Burke can often be

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found flying this lightweight solar

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balloon in the courtyard at NASA's Jet

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Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena

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California mr. Burke views his study as

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an important stepping stone to a larger

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goal than gathering more precise

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information about the red planet

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now the Martian atmosphere is carbon

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dioxide and if you put a black balloon

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that's light enough with a light enough

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payload into that atmosphere the sun

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shining on the black balloon will warm

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it up like the heat inside a parked car

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with the windows shut and it gets hot

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enough inside to become a hot air

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balloon scientists students and

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engineers from Jake

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California Institute of Technology have

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taken the concept a step further by

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testing the feasibility his 30 foot

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diameter solar balloon that might be

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used to study Mars in theory the device

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could be blown around by local Martian

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winds during the day to collect data and

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take pictures at night it would cool

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down lose buoyancy and lower itself to

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the ground and to survey the planet's

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surface the small clear balloon pulls

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the larger one off the ground at night

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so it won't get damaged

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there are many regions of Mars that

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could be explored this way according to

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Jim Burnie one very interesting

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possibility is to flip the balloon in

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the atmosphere get it inflated operating

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up in the polar regions and let the

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circumpolar winds drift it down across

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the polar cap over the layered terrain

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which is in the canyons that spiral out

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from the polar cap then across the

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immense dune fields that surround the

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floor caps and on downward into

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temperate latitudes on Mars to remotely

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explore the surface of Mars a number of

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devices have been investigated they

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include early roving vehicle prototypes

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designed to fall or wheel their way

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across alien terrain Rovers continue to

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be designed today based on some of these

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models University of Arizona's lunar and

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planetary labs graduate students and

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faculty have recently built this

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- wheel prototype Mars roll another

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vehicle

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this robotic six-wheeled version which

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is JPL's latest testbed for

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understanding the control

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vision systems needed for a Mars mission

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according to Brian Wilcox

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operators research group at JPL sending

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commands to a

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Mars would be difficult because of the

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10 to 40 minute round-trip delay you

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can't just sit there and steer in your

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armchair from a TV monitor and make the

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vehicle do useful things because of this

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long speed of light delay so we've

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identified several techniques to

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maneuver of vehicle on Mars in such a

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way that you can go useful distances in

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a day in spite of the fact that the

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humans are this long speed of light

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the rugged vehicle has two TV cameras

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for eyes

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indisputably of climbing complex

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occurred taller than it

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the proposed making vehicle would have

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robotic arms to make measurements and

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using Rovers onboard vision system

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scientists can freeze three-dimensional

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images from its pair of television

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cameras they can then designate the

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pathway to follow continually updating

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commands from Earth so that the rover is

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able to avoid obstacles and hazards as

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more sophisticated visual systems are

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developed greater artificial

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intelligence and help the rover find its

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own way if given I res Aleutian imagery

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of the Martian surface and the list of

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the hope is to someday send a manned

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mission to Mars but a more detailed

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study of the planet is necessary first

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and these pioneering steps can be made

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by roving vehicles and balloons again

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Brian Wilcox if you imagine an

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expedition Lewis and Clark trying to

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survey the Louisiana Purchase they

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basically made one track across a very

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small fraction of the land surface of

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the earth took them years to do it and

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yet they found incredible things all

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along the way we could certainly have a

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dozen Rover missions which yielded

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equally interesting results the