[ad_1]
The Perseverance Mars rover is the most unusual SUV.
The science vehicle has almost the same weight and footprint as a WWII Jeep and is capable of serious crawling.
Crawling being a very literal term in this case as the six-wheeled vehicle has a top speed of 0.01 mph.
Each of those wheels has an electric motor, however, and all four on the corners can all steer. The vehicle is also capable of negotiating a 45 degree incline in any direction, but its return-to-land controllers limit it to 30 degrees in the instructions they send it which takes 5 to 20 minutes to arrive.
MORE FROM ALL-TERRAIN FROM FOX NEWS AUTOS
The six identical wheels measure 20.7 inches in diameter and consist of aluminum hubs and skins connected by flexible titanium spokes.
Highly articulated suspension allows the wheels to roll over rocks as high as they are, and now we know what the metal studs that form their treads look like when they claw at sand and rocks.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Perseverance is fitted with a microphone that was primarily intended to capture the sounds of his descent to the planet’s surface and has now been used to record a 90-foot cruise he recently took through Jazero Crater.
NASA released a 16-minute clip and a shorter reel of the noise, which includes pops, scrapes, and a scratching sound that may be some kind of electronic interference.
“If I heard these sounds while driving my car, I would pull over and call for a tow,” said Dave Gruel, chief engineer of the EDL Camera and Microphone subsystem from March 2020. “But if you will. take a minute to think about what you hear and where it was recorded, that makes perfect sense. “
Maybe next time they will step it up and send a GoPro video camera, but it will be some time before anyone really has fun driving on an alien body that the Apollo astronauts made in the Moon rover. , in which the late Capt Eugene Cernan hit a record speed of 11.2 mph.
[ad_2]
Source link