ROBOTS GET READY FOR MARS.Byline: Paula M. Story Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Robots trekking the Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, sands may be taking the first small steps toward putting mankind on Mars. That was the hope Saturday as about a dozen rover robots roamed the beach while scientists from around the globe talked of autonomous navigation, pitch-and-roll clinometers, rocker-bogie chassis and encoders for dead reckoning dead reckoning: see navigation. . In layman's terms, that meant the mobile exploration vehicles can find their way around rocks and other obstacles, mapping as they go. Some demonstrated their ability to right themselves after flipping over. About 100 scientists gathered for the Rover Roundup, which highlighted the Planetary Society's conference on exploration of the planets. The event on a pint-sized facsimile of the Martian surface was designed to test the abilities of devices that researchers hope will blaze trails to Mars. ``Most of us feel that this is a preparation for when we do send humans,'' said Brian H. Wilcox of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory “JPL” redirects here. For other uses, see JPL (disambiguation). Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a NASA research center located in the cities of Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, near Los Angeles, California, USA. in Pasadena. ``It's just a matter of time. . . . Someday, people are going to go to Mars.'' That quest took on additional excitement in summer when scientists announced that a chunk of Martian rock may contain fossil signs of life. A full-sized rover, NASA's Sojourner, is now hurtling toward the planet, tucked inside the Mars Pathfinder. It is scheduled to begin exploration of an ancient Martian floodplain floodplain, level land along the course of a river formed by the deposition of sediment during periodic floods. Floodplains contain such features as levees, backswamps, delta plains, and oxbow lakes. July 4. Data collected by rovers may someday explain why Venus swelters under a raging greenhouse effect greenhouse effect: see global warming. greenhouse effect Warming of the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere caused by water vapour, carbon dioxide, and other trace gases in the atmosphere. Visible light from the Sun heats the Earth's surface. or why Mars remains in a freezing slumber, said Wilcox, technical group supervisor for JPL's robotic vehicle group. That, he said, could help answer a question closer to home: ``How do we keep Earth from becoming like Venus or Mars, which is to say, uninhabitable?'' For the roundup, scientists and engineers from the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , Russia, Japan and Germany brought rovers ranging from the size of a laptop computer to a little smaller than a riding lawn mower. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1) Jake, a model of the robotic rover for the Sojourner space flight to Mars, rolls along the Santa Monica beach. (2) A crowd watches a model of the rover scheduled to explore Mars in July. Hans Gutknecht/Daily News |
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