An inflatable robot that can travel a thousand times faster than the rover
released by NASA鈥檚 Mars Pathfinder lander in 1997 could make it easier to
explore the Red Planet. To travel much faster than the Pathfinder rover鈥檚 top
speed of 7 metres a day, the wheels have to be much larger than the rocks. But
the problem was cost, because every extra gram of mass requires more fuel.
By making the three wheels of the rover inflatable you solve both these
problems, says Jack Jones, who developed the new system at NASA鈥檚 Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena.
When collapsed, the rover measures one metre square by 20 centimetres thick,
making it highly portable. When inflated it is the size of a four-wheel-drive
car but weighs only 20 kilograms.
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The rover easily climbs over boulders one-third the size of its wheels, says
Jones. 鈥淭he only thing that inhibits us is objects larger than 0.5 metres,鈥� he
says. 鈥淎nd these make up less than one per cent of obstacles on Mars.鈥� Jones
believes that the inflatable could be used as early as 2005.