Thursday, September 16, 2010

NASA Mars Rover rolls out

Despite the confusion that seems to afflict NASA with its plans for a manned mission to Mars, it's encouraging to see that work continues on component elements, none more so important as how to get astronauts around on the surface. So great to see a very interesting video on the BBC website, a guided tour of the interior of a remarkable two man rover. Astronauts would be able to spend up to 2 weeks aboard at a time, in surprisingly comfortable surroundings. Amusing to see that modern touch screens have been abandoned as too difficult to use in bumpy conditions. Bit of a blow there for every science fiction film and TV series that has featured touch screen interfaces. Buttons are the future! See the full video at the BBC website.