WASHINGTON — NASA scientists are starting to finalize the robotic machines they’ll need to pull off a series of extremely complex maneuvers on Mars.
Here are the details: NASA revealed on Tuesday, December 14 that it’s already testing the complex set of hardware that would be required to bring back sample tubes from Mars.
The first part of the Mars side of the mission would be a lander that can support the mission’s heavy rover, robotic arm, rocket and rocket tosser.
This lander would be too heavy for retro jets, so it would require piston-powered legs to absorb a lot of shock when landing.
The rover would then have to be smart enough to find and pick up all the sample tubes that previous rovers left at various spots on their trail.
After that, the rover needs to find the lander, where a robotic arm will place the samples inside the rocket that will blast them into space.
The rocket itself will need to adapt to any uneven terrain that the lander might have landed on, so it comes with a tossing mechanism that will toss it nose-up into the air just before the rocket fires.
Up in Mars orbit, an orbiter would use complex mechanics to seal the tubes in clean containers, then sterilizing the seals and placing the containers into an Earth-entry capsule before the return trip to Earth.
The NASA team has conducted 23 tests this year, changing the rocket’s mass and center of gravity along the way.