Collaborate Disseminate
On February 18th, the Perseverance rover safely touched down on the Martian surface. In the coming days and weeks, the wide array of instruments and scientific payloads tucked aboard the robotic explorer will spring to life; allowing us to learn …read more
Continue reading A Look at The “Risky” Tech in NASA’s Martian Helicopter
Over the past few weeks, a new season of Mars fever kicked off with launches of three interplanetary missions. And since there’s a sizable overlap between fans of spaceflight and those of electronics and 3D printing, the European Space Agency released the ExoMy rover for those who want to experience …read more
Continue reading ExoMy Is A Miniature European Mars Rover With A Friendly Face
Three students were a little sad when NASA’s Opportunity rover went silent after 15 years on the Martian surface. So they decided to build their own rover inspired by Opportunity to roam their backyards using an off-the-shelf robot chassis, a Raspberry Pi, and the usual list of parts like motors, …read more
Continue reading Student Rover Explores the Backyard in Tribute
Mars may not be the kind of place to raise your kids, but chances are that one day [Elton John]’s famous lyrics will be wrong about there being no one there to raise them. For now, however, we have probes, orbiters, and landers. Mars missions are going strong this year, …read more
Continue reading Window In The Skies: Why Everyone Is Going To Mars This Month
At this point, most of us are painfully aware of the restrictions that COVID-19 social distancing protocols have put on our daily lives. Anyone who can is working from home, major events are canceled, non-essential businesses are closed, and travel is either strongly discouraged or prohibited outright. In particularly hard …read more
Continue reading Getting To Space Is Even Harder During a Pandemic
Hackaday editors Mike Szczys and Elliot Williams discuss the many great hacks of the past week. Just in case you missed the fact that we’re living in the cyberpunk future, you can now pop off your prosthetic hand and jack directly into a synthesizer. The robot headed for Mars has …read more
Mission leads have not heard from Oppy since it was caught in a massive dust storm last June. On Wednesday, NASA will likely announce that it has died. Continue reading NASA’s Mars Opportunity Rover Is Likely Dead
Few things build excitement like going to space. It captures the imagination of young and old alike. Teachers love to leverage the latest space news to raise interest in their students, and space agencies are happy to provide resources to help. The latest in a long line of educator resources released by NASA is an Open Source Rover designed at Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
JPL is the birthplace of Mars rovers Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity. They’ve been researching robotic explorers for decades, so it’s no surprise they have many rovers running around. The open source rover’s direct predecessor is ROV-E, …read more
Continue reading Six Wheels (En)rolling: Mars Rovers Going To School
The Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment (ASPIRE) will slow the Mars 2020 rover down from its breakneck pace of 12,000 miles per hour. Continue reading Watch the Hypnotic Unfurling of NASA’s Martian Test Parachute
[Navin Khambhala] is a master at making simple what most would expect to be a complex build. Now he’s done it again with a remote controlled robot that can easily climb steps and role over rough terrain. The parts count is small and many of them are commonly available.
The suspension that makes it all possible is the rocker-bogie. It’s the same suspension we’ve all seen used by the various rovers ambling around on Mars. The whole frame is made of PVC pipes with some connecting metal bars, and each wheel has its own twelve-volt DC motor. Motor control is …read more
Continue reading Simple Step-Climbing Robot Climbs Like It’s On Mars