Marsokhod, Some Russian work on Mars rovers Options

[Guest_DonPMitchell_*]

You may have seen these before, but here are a few Marsokhod rover designed developed and tested by TransMASH. First is a concept developed for a Mars-94 mission. Note the radioisotope thermopile generator on the back.

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They also experimented with walking rovers, and with hybrid concepts that included wheels on articulated axles:

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In 1999, TransMASH worked with NASA on a Mars rover, a blend of Marsokhod and some American concepts clearly. Looks similar to the ExoMars rover, I think.

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[As old as Voyage...]

You're right of course. It was a brilliantly ambitious piece of kit:

http://www.planetary.org/mars/tpr_rover-rus_first-rover.html

I suppose its too much to hope that future HiRISE images will show the little rover (or should that be skier) a few meters from the lander much like Sojourner and Pathfinder.

If the Mars 3 rover did make it onto the surface, presumably it would have reached the end of its tether. Much like the Soviet scientists in Mars program at the time when both their potentially brilliant landers failed.