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Review
Exploring Mars is an exciting feat for humanity, and the rover is an indispensable part of this feat. However, when it comes to the speed of the rover, you might be a little surprised.
At a speed of only 40 meters per hour, it is a bit slower than that of a tortoise. This raises a curious question: why can't the rover go faster? In fact, it's not a simple technical or design issue. The challenges of exploring Mars don't stop there.
Magical rover
Mars rover, these robots can not only travel freely on Mars, but also conduct scientific surveys. They are a powerful tool for us to understand Mars and an important step in our exploration of the solar system.
The history of the development of the Mars rover can be traced back to the sixties of the last century, when the United States and the former Soviet Union sent probes to Mars in an attempt to land on the planet and unravel its mysteries.
However, due to the extreme environment of Mars, many probes have failed repeatedly, and only a handful have successfully landed and sent back limited data and images.
It wasn't until 1997 that the Mars Pathfinder rover of the United States released the first Mars rover in history, Sojna. Although it is only the size of a microwave oven, it can walk freely on Mars and analyze the chemical composition of rocks and soil, providing humans with valuable information about Mars.
Building on the success of Sojna, the United States has launched more advanced rovers such as Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity and Perseverance.
Larger, more powerful, more instrumental, and longer-lived, these rovers are able to explore more distant places on the Martian surface, get more information, and even look for traces of life.
In addition to the United States, other countries are also actively involved in the development of Mars rovers, including Europe's Mars Express and Bepkorom, China's Tianwen-1 and Zhurong, and India's Mangalian. Each of them has its own unique characteristics and goals, and together they have contributed to the continuous progress of Mars exploration.
Why is the rover so slow
Although the rover represents a technological advancement for mankind, its speed may surprise many people, and it can only travel 40 meters per hour.
Why can't the rover move as fast as a car on Earth? In fact, the speed of the rover is constrained by many factors, mainly in the following three aspects:
First, the rover relies primarily on solar panels for energy, using the sun's rays on Mars to power it. However, sunlight on Mars is not as intense as on Earth and has shorter hours of daylight.
As a result, the rover's battery panels are unable to provide enough power to support high-speed travel. In order to accomplish other tasks, such as collecting samples and transmitting images, the rover also needs to consider saving energy while driving.
Some rovers, such as Curiosity and Perseverance in the United States, are powered by nuclear energy, which allows them to have access to a more stable and long-lasting energy supply. However, there are risks and costs associated with nuclear power, and it is not possible to provide unlimited energy. Therefore, the speed of the rover still needs to be controlled within the energy range.
The rover faces huge communication delays. Considering the extremely long distance between Mars and Earth, the shortest distance between the two is about 55 million kilometers and up to 400 million kilometers at its farthest.
This caused a delay of several minutes in the transmission of signals between the rover and the ground control center. This means that the rover cannot receive ground commands and controls in real time, and will have to wait for a moment to get feedback.
As it travels, the rover needs to send the current terrain to the ground and then wait for the next command. This waiting cycle severely restricts the speed of the rover.
In order to increase the speed of the rover, scientists are working on ways to allow the rover to plan its path and adjust its speed autonomously. In this way, the rover can independently choose a more suitable route based on the actual situation and avoid ground obstacles.
In this way, the rover will no longer rely entirely on terrestrial commands, but will be able to make some decisions autonomously, improving speed and efficiency. This work allows the rover to be more flexible and autonomous in its exploration.
The terrain of Mars is quite complex and far from flat. Its surface is covered with potholes and dotted with stones of various sizes. These terrains pose a huge challenge for the rover, as the rover must be careful to avoid structural or tire damage.
To make matters worse, the rover also has to deal with dust storms on Mars, which can affect visibility and reduce the efficiency of solar panels. Sometimes, the rover even had to suspend its activities until the storm had passed.
In order to cope with the terrain and environment of Mars, the design and manufacture of the rover need to be fully considered. Their tires and suspension systems must be elastic and stable enough to accommodate uneven terrain.
At the same time, the body structure and interior instruments must be strong and durable enough to withstand the effects of temperature differences, friction, vibration and shock.
In addition, the rover's sensors and cameras must be highly clear and sensitive, allowing them to detect their surroundings during dust storms. Only in this way will the rover be able to carry out its exploration work smoothly in extreme environments.
epilogue
The rover's dilemma covers many aspects such as energy, communication delays, and complex terrain environments. Due to the lack of energy supply from the solar panels and the delay of several minutes in signal transmission between Mars and Earth, the rover is unable to obtain real-time commands and controls, which severely limits its speed. The complex terrain and harsh climatic conditions make the rover walk on thin ice.
Despite this, scientists are working tirelessly to make the rover more agile and autonomous in the face of challenges. They are exploring ways to make the rover autonomously plan its path and adjust its speed to improve its autonomy and adaptability. These efforts will bring new possibilities and prospects for the development of Mars exploration in the future.
Therefore, the slow speed of the rover is not a limitation of its own ability, but an inevitable choice to fight extreme environments and unknown challenges. They are a symbol of human exploration and courage in Mars, and a testimony to the continuous progress of human science and technology. Perhaps, it is in this slow but determined pace that we can better understand and explore this mysterious Red Planet.
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