Do rovers need a specific trenching tool?, Dead wheel works, but designed scoop would be better |
Do rovers need a specific trenching tool?, Dead wheel works, but designed scoop would be better |
Dec 2 2007, 07:46 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 910 Joined: 4-September 06 From: Boston Member No.: 1102 |
The stuck wheel has been key to most of Spirit's most important discoveries. Should future rover designs include a scoop which can be dragged behind the rover to turn over the soil? It could be on an arm with just one motor/degree of freedom--up or down. The scoop/plow could be on a flexible arm so if it snagged a rock, it would deflect away. Since everything on mars is covered with a layer of dust, you need something to continuously trench to find sulfates, silica or the next unexpected thing. The arm could be very light if you had a little scoop/rake at the end of a flexible fiberglass pole. Maybe you could add some type of simple sensor to the scoop to determine the crude spectral properties of the freshly exposed soil. Lots of possibilities.
What do you think--is a scoop/plow/rake a worthwhile rover tool? What is your design? -------------------- |
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