Hedgehog Rovers Hop and Tumble In Microgravity 31
New submitter rgreid writes: Prototypes of a new type of rover designed to explore the surface of comets and asteroids have been demonstrated recently by JPL and Stanford. Videos of the rovers in NASA's "vomit comet" show the Hedgehog prototypes performing hopping and tumbling maneuvers in a low-gravity environment. The low gravity and rough terrains found on comets and asteroids make driving with traditional rovers difficult and hazardous— the Hedgehog rovers are specifically designed to overcome these challenges and use the low gravity environment to their advantage. A last-resort "tornado" maneuver shows how the Hedgehogs could leap upwards if they get stuck in a sinkhole. The team's concept was previously covered in 2013; this recent work goes a long way toward demonstrating that Hedgehog rovers could work on a real comet or asteroid.
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Yeah a lot of groups and sites I participate in have introduced a new rule recently - any political posts, IN PARTICULAR American political posts will result in an instaban. Tell your story walking.
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Cheap technology like this can be deployed privately. No need to sit around and wait for the approval of people like you.
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A gas giant still has a core. Uranus happens to be next in line in terms of gravity wells in our solar system (I'll leave your Mom out of it).
The wheels are within a closed system. How much more 'amphibious' do you want to make it?
Why Europa? You saw a movie? You don't want to contaminate any of these worlds if you can avoid it, Ceres, Enceladus, Rhea.. At least not before they have been studied and believed to be void of life.
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[citation required]
What do you mean by 'critical point'?
What 'extreme conditions' are you talking about?
"it could form ionic and superionic states"
If you know what these words mean, could you articulate why you think this is the case?
Microgravity (Score:2)
So what's to stop it flying straight off the comet when it performs the "spin-off" maneuver to get out of a hole?
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I don't know, microgravity maybe?
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It generally takes a lot of momentum to leave a typical medium-sized asteroid. The "spin" maneuver is only a last-resort maneuver if a probe gets outright stuck. It may make it "fly" pretty high if it rubs rocks at certain angles, but not enough to leave the asteroid/comet. It would probably be more like Philae's (unintentional) bouncing around. On a smaller body it may put it into orbit, but with some fuel it may b
Glad to see Philae had some purpose (Score:2)
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Wait, I thought it was the pit of despair [youtube.com].
[clears throat] Don't even think about trying to escape.
Simps... Japanese did it first. (Score:2)
The Japanese already flew one. Unfortunately they never got the lander to land.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik... [wikipedia.org]
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That one wasn't cubical, it looked like a solar-powered music drum with spikes. Same general concept, though: tumble-able using fly-wheel(s) for movement.
Would be funny if they wrote "The Beatles" on it.
The real Hedgehog (Score:1)
Neal Stephenson, the white phone, please (Score:2)
Prospectors could deploy large numbers of these to assay asteroids in bulk at low cost.
disappointing (Score:2)
For a moment I lived in hope of actual hedgehogs in space.
That would be awesomely fantastic. A confused little snout wriggling in free-fall.