It has been years in the making; hundreds of engineers and scientists and debate after debate of where and how to land - but the rover Curiosity has finally touched down and is working properly. Image from Curiosity - Courtesy of JPL The rover, equipped with not only a multitude of cameras (1…
Not many robots enjoy full autonomy; humans often prefer to supervise them and make sure they are doing their job right. However, there are some situations where direct supervision is impossible. For instance, when sending robots to explore space, the communication latency increases as they get far…
After months of trying, NASA is calling it quits on freeing the Spirit rover from the Martian sand that it's been stuck in since May of 2009. Â Unfortunately, after six years of tireless service, the end might be very near for the rover, which faces a severe Martian winter in its current positio
 Mars Rover Stuck After over five years of tireless service, the Mars rover Spirit is one again in trouble. Our long-lived martian friend now appears to be stuck in the sand. Spirit, which has been dragging an immobile wheel for nearly three years, has been circling a, "low plateau calle
NASA is working on an UAV to fly above the surface of mars and take high resolution video of the landscape below. The ARES mission will involve a 6.5 meter wingspan UAV that will cruise along 1 mile above the martian surface. The cameras on board are very high resolution, such that, "if there was…
